The Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) plans to require its employees to work an extra five years from 60 to 65 in order to receive pension entitlements has been met with widespread anger among members of Unite.

The union, which represents RBS staff, also displayed its discontent at the fact that workers will have to pay five per cent of their salary in contributions in order to retire at 60 on full retirement benefits. Unite argued that with 28,000 workers receiving no pay rise this year, the changes would result in the pension scheme becoming “unaffordable” for many.

Unite national officer David Fleming commented: “The bank is attempting to push through these changes without any proper negotiations with the union. We will be campaigning against these plans and we demand that RBS gets around the table and negotiates with Unite.”

A spokesperson for RBS argued that the changes were “essential” in order to “sustain the final salary pension scheme given the continued improvements in life expectancy.”

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