Consultation Update – W/C 16 July

Wednesday, July 18th, 2018

TUPE and Diligenta

On Friday we visited the Diligenta office in Peterborough for our consultation meeting. We received a tour of the office and also got the opportunity to question some individuals who have undergone a TUPE and those that joined Diligenta separately. We took some real positives from those individuals and the key for us is that they all felt they were rewarded fairly for what they do.

Following on from our previous email, the situation as it stands is:

What do we now know:

Salary Increases – The Diligenta approach is to award an across the board increase for all employees following negotiation with Unite. It has been confirmed that there is also a pot to award increases throughout the year to reward performance and address anomalies. The bonus (where payable) will also be used to reward individual performance.

Prudential Bonus 2018 – we have agreed that the half year rating should apply. However, where an individual has been rated lower than meeting a review of these individuals performance will be undertaken prior to 1 October to ensure that if that individual ‘would’ be meeting/meeting by year end then the rating may be changed accordingly. Following conversations regarding this element – we are comfortable with this approach.

Prudential Staff Discounts – these will cease on transfer to Diligenta on 1 October 2018. However, following our request, the opportunity to open an M&G ISA with a waiver on the initial charge will continue for a further 6 months to 31 March 2019 – you can use the following link for more information and it is the easiest way for you to  open one prior to transfer with only £1: (http://intranet.pru.local/homepage_content/prudential_uk_news/2018_quarter_one/february/mandg_isa_allowance/?view=Standard&gsasro=3&gsaq=M%26G%20Isa)  

Carers Policy – we are very disappointed that Diligenta don’t currently have this in place however their Compassionate & Dependants Leave policies can be used for this purpose.  They have no plans at this time to introduce one, but post transfer, Unite reps will make this an agenda item to discuss further with Diligenta.

Final Salary (DB) Scheme – Diligenta initially offered a 12% non-contributory DC scheme for the transferring DB members. We were encouraged by the non-contributory element however the proposed employer contribution was not acceptable. We submitted counter proposals to both Diligenta and Prudential as follows:

Unite Counter Proposal to Diligenta

These individuals are losing approximately 25% of their current total reward with no certainty that a DC fund will perform anywhere near as well as their DB pension.  In view of the significant financial detriment , long service and loyalty to those individuals in the DB scheme transferring to Diligenta, we would like to propose the following:

24% non-contributory DC scheme

This population will be key in ensuring a smooth transition following the transfer to Diligenta as their skills and knowledge need to be retained and also, you will have a reasonably happy workforce. This would mitigate the risk of these individuals leaving as the ‘golden handcuffs’ have been removed.

Unite Counter Proposal to Prudential

•  Additional years DB contributions added to their DB pension (based on their final Prudential salary) to offset the loss of the scheme to paid by Prudential, plus the Diligenta DC non-contributory scheme.
• Removal of the reduction in accrued benefits if DB pension is taken early e.g. 55.

 
Revised Diligenta Proposal (4^th July 2018)

1 October 2018 – 30 September 2020      14% Employer Contribution

1 October 2020 onwards                             12% Employer Contribution plus 1% if you make a contribution of 3% or more = 13% Employer Contribution & 3% Employee Contribution

Further Revised Prudential/Diligenta proposal for DB (Prudential & Scot Am) members (13^th July 2018):

It is important to note that this is being fully funded by Prudential whereas the previous proposal from Diligenta was only 50% funded by Prudential. We do know that our proposal to add extra years into the DB (Prudential & Scot Am) scheme and removing the early retirement reduction was taken seriously.

We will discuss the revised offer from Prudential and Diligenta in our members meeting and this may form part of a separate communication.

Sharesave – all in scope individuals will receive a payment of £250 (less tax & NI) on the anniversary of their move to Diligenta – 1 October 2019. This is in respect of removing the opportunity to take part in future sharesaves.

Long Service Awards – We are really pleased that at our request, Prudential has confirmed that those individuals who have achieved 35 years’ service but have yet to reach 40 years with Prudential will receive the Diligenta long service award of £350 (vouchers) on the 1^st anniversary of their move to Diligenta – 1 October 2019.

Next Steps

There is a members meeting TODAY at 3.30pm in The Avenue and our Unite Regional Officer, Ian Methven will be in attendance. For those not able to attend, we can also be collate your feedback on the revised DB (Prudential & Scot Am) proposal by email to Unite@prudential.co.uk.

For those in the retained part of CS&I or Wealth, we will also be available to listen to any concerns or issues you wish to raise regarding the processes you are going through.

If you are unable to attend the members meetings, are not based in Reading or have any questions then please contact Unite@prudential.co.uk.

Thanks

Claire Williams
Ellen Looby
Jan Ciepkiewicz

Posted in Diligenta & TCS TUPE, Pru Section news | Comments Off on Consultation Update – W/C 16 July

Consultation Update – W/C 2 July

Wednesday, July 18th, 2018

TUPE and Diligenta

We have taken part in a further consultation meeting this week and we have had enough assurances from Diligenta and Prudential to close discussions on a number of the proposed terms and conditions.  This is because what you have now will be what you continue to enjoy post transfer to Diligenta.  We have also reviewed a large number of the Diligenta policies in depth and have queried some elements. These will be discussed in the upcoming meetings.

Following on from our previous email, the situation as it stands is:

What do we now know:

PFP Advice – individuals will be able to take advantage of the free PFP advice for 6 months following the Service Commencement Date – taking availability up until 31 March 2019. We are pleased that Prudential have made this commitment to those individuals going through the transfer.

Holiday – we are pleased the core holiday allowance will increase to 23 days with the option to buy up to a further 10 days. Diligenta will add the 5% (non-pensionable allowance) flex fund to your salary and then deduct the amount of holiday bought from that.  This means that even if you chose to buy the maximum 10 days, you will not use your whole 5% and so will see this reflected in your monthly pay.

Season Ticket Loans – this will apply to car parks. Also because Diligenta do not currently operate a cycle to work scheme they have confirmed that you can use this to pay for the bike you purchased under the Prudential cycle to work scheme.

Movement of Roles (redeployment) – we are really pleased that should you move to a new position in the Prudential account or are redeployed (in a redundancy situation) to any other Diligenta account there will be NO changes to the terms & conditions (including redundancy terms & length of service) you transfer with on 1 October (or later depending on consultation progress).

In addition, Diligenta have confirmed that should you wish to apply for a role on another Diligenta account you WILL retain your redundancy terms and length of service but you will move to the standard Diligenta terms including the Company’s percentage pension contribution at that time.  

However, Diligenta have confirmed that where a shortfall exists between your own and their contributions to your pension then Diligenta WILL pay the difference as an equal non-pensionable allowance, paid monthly in your salary. You can choose whether to invest this back into your Diligenta pension. This also applies to any movement of roles to TCS (redeployment or voluntary) however you would move to the TCS equivalent terms, conditions and pension.

We welcome this concession which we hope will reassure the transferring population that their terms & conditions have some protection.

Defined Contribution (DC) Scheme –Diligenta have confirmed that this will be an exact replica of the Prudential scheme which includes the pension plus arrangement.

Final Salary (DB) Scheme – Diligenta initially offered a 12% non-contributory DC scheme for the transferring DB members. We were encouraged by the non-contributory element however the proposed employer contribution was not acceptable. We submitted counter proposals to both Diligenta and Prudential as follows:

Unite Counter Proposal to Diligenta

These individuals are losing approximately 25% of their current total reward with no certainty that a DC fund will perform anywhere near as well as their DB pension.  In view of the significant financial detriment , long service and loyalty to those individuals in the DB scheme transferring to Diligenta, we would like to propose the following:

24% non-contributory DC scheme

This population will be key in ensuring a smooth transition following the transfer to Diligenta as their skills and knowledge need to be retained and also, you will have a reasonably happy workforce. This would mitigate the risk of these individuals leaving as the ‘golden handcuffs’ have been removed.

Unite Counter Proposal to Prudential – this is still being actively pursued but there has been no response as yet and it is being looked into seriously by the Company.

• Additional years DB contributions added to their DB pension (based on their final Prudential salary) to offset the loss of the scheme to paid by Prudential, plus the Diligenta DC non-contributory scheme.
• Removal of the reduction in accrued benefits if DB pension is taken early e.g. 55.

Revised Diligenta Proposal

1 October 2018 – 30 September 2020      14% Employer Contribution

1 October 2020 onwards                               12% Employer Contribution plus 1% if you make a contribution of 3% or more = 13% Employer Contribution & 3% Employee Contribution

This is the position as it stands but we will be challenging this and we will arrange a members meeting to discuss. We are waiting for a response to our counter proposal to Prudential and a members meeting prior to submitting a formal counter to Diligenta.

Sharesave – on your behalf, we requested to see whether it would be possible (for those individuals that want to) to deduct 2 payments in September from pay for the plans maturing this year.  Unfortunately, neither the plan rules or HMRC will allow this and so the last payment will need to be made by you independently.  We have requested some form of compensation for those with sharesaves maturing in 2019 & 2020 and this is part of the ongoing discussions.

Long Service Awards – Prudential has confirmed that those individuals achieving a significant anniversary (20,30 or 40 years) in October, November and December this year will receive the Prudential award prior to transfer to Diligenta. They have also confirmed that anyone with a long service anniversary in 2018 will be invited to the celebration event. We still have an outstanding request for those approaching a 40 year anniversary.

Next Steps
Our next consultation is on Friday 13^th July and it will be at the Diligenta site in Peterborough. As well as continuing talks on outstanding items, we will have the opportunity to speak to current employees and look at some of the proposed digital offering being worked on for Prudential.

We will be arranging a members meeting for w/c 16^th July and our Unite Regional Officer, Ian Methven will be in attendance.

If you are unable to attend the members meetings, are not based in Reading or have any questions then please contact Unite@prudential.co.uk.

Thanks

Claire Williams
Ellen Looby
Jan Ciepkiewicz

Posted in Diligenta & TCS TUPE, Pru Section news | Comments Off on Consultation Update – W/C 2 July