Members of the BTRSS and BT Hybrid pension schemes are now accruing additional benefits as agreed in a 2018 pension review, following 10 months' of delays.

The new arrangement saw the introduction of universal pensionability of four key allowances, as well as the introduction of the hybrid pension scheme for existing BTPS members and transitional payments of up to 10 years, also for existing BTPS members.

Whilst the pensionability of the four new allowances was expected to be introduced in April 2019, this was delayed pending the development of systems capable of calculating the pension benefits accrued from these.

The improvements were agreed by both scheme members and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) in May 2018 following months of talks, prompted by the closure of BTs defined benefit pension scheme to future accrual.

CWU assistant secretary, Dave Jukes, commented: "We’ve been chasing BT some time now to ensure the company fulfils its side of the agreement...and I’m pleased to say that has finally now occurred.

"Some shift allowances were already pensionable, as were some overtime payments, but the belated implementation of this agreement provides an important level of uniformity across the piece which was previously lacking .

"Those allowances are backdated to April 2019 – and while their effect on individuals’ eventual pensions obviously varies from case to case, the positive effect is significant enough not to be sniffed at, especially in this day and age."

Jukes added: "While its certainly true to say that the details of how DC pension benefits are calculated is not the most penetrable subject, real people are now receiving tangible benefits from changes that only came about because of the CWU’s persistence at both the negotiating stage, and subsequently with regards to getting this put into effect".

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