The UK's largest union, Unite, has called for an investigation into “disappearing” pension payments of NHS and other public sector workers employed by Carillion, which could be worth more that £1m.

According to Unite, Carillion has claimed it paid the pensions contributions in December, but the money has not been received by the firm’s pension schemes.

Furthermore, Unite said it is unclear when the outsourcing firm last paid in its contributions.

Unite national officer for health Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe said: “This is a matter of serious concern. Workers make contributions towards their retirement and have every right to expect that those contributions go to the rightful pension schemes.
 
“We need to know what has happened to these payments, possibly involving more than a million pounds. At present, they appear to have mysteriously disappeared into the financial abyss.
 
“Money has been taken from workers’ wages for their retirement and that money appears to have disappeared into the ether.
 
The union has now called for Work and Pensions Committee chair Frank Field and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee chair Rachel Reeves to “launch an urgent probe” into the missing pension contributions.

Jarret-Thorpe added: “Efforts by Unite to discover what has happened from the Insolvency Service has hit a brick wall – that’s why we are calling on the two select committees to redouble their efforts to get to the bottom of the financial debacle that was Carillion.
 
“The financial stewardship of Carillion in its last months was a prime example of out of control, feral capitalism.”

Unite has 100,000 members in the health service and other sectors including the prison service, the Ministry of Defence and local government, which could all potentially be affected by the missing contributions.

Untie’s stance has been supported by Labour’s Shadow Minister for Labour, Laura Pidcock, who brought up the issue in a Westminster debate on Carillion yesterday, Wednesday 21 February 2018.

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