Members challenge plan to alter Aston Martin pension scheme

Plans to close a defined benefit (DB, career average) pension scheme at Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd are being challenged by Unite, which says the move could cost the members involved about £100,000 over the course of their retirement, depending on their individual circumstances.

The company wants to move the DB members to the existing defined contribution (DC) scheme which covers the majority of the workforce and also new employees. The union argues that such schemes are at the mercy of sudden fluctuations in global stock markets and produce worse retirement incomes.

Unite members affected by the proposal at Gaydon and Wellesbourne (Warwickshire), Milton Keynes, Newport Pagnell and St Athan in South Wales voted overwhelmingly (in a consultative ballot) to hold a full-scale industrial action ballot in the new year to protect their retirement incomes.

General secretary Sharon Graham insisted that there was no case to be made for closing the DB scheme: “Aston Martin’s whole workforce is now aware of the gross inadequacy of the existing defined contribution scheme by comparison – and this will be a significant factor when we put forward our claim in the 2022 pay review.”.