A planned pension age increase from 65 to 70 for approximately 4,500 employees of the States of Guernsey has been revoked, Unite the union has announced.

Following a vote and legal challenge led by Unite against the States of Guernsey, it has been confirmed that employees will now revert to a pension age of 65.

The initial pension changes that were introduced by States of Guernsey in March 2016, entailed the increase of the pensionable age as well as the removal of usual automatic lump sum payments that could be received at retirement.

However, pension members’ and Unite’s challenges have also lead to staff being entitled to lump sum payments when they retire.

Unite regional secretary with responsibility for Guernsey, Peter Hughes said: “This is good news for the States of Guernsey workforce and would not have been possible had it not been for the legal action launched by Unite and the resolve of our members.

“The ‘work until you drop’ pension plans that the States of Guernsey sought to impose on its workforce would have seen some workers forced to work until they were 70 to get their full pension. The plans would have seen automatic lump sum payments scrapped too. Under the new pension arrangements negotiated by Unite this is now not the case.”

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