Pension age victory

Pension changes, affecting approximately 4,500 employees of the States of Guernsey that would have seen the pension age for some workers rising from 65 to 70, have been scrapped after Unite members voted to back a new pension deal secured by their union.

In addition to forcing workers to ‘work until they drop’ to get their pension, the changes imposed by the States of Guernsey in March 2016 also saw usual automatic lump sum payments on retirement scrapped.

Instead, following a legal challenge by Unite against the States of Guernsey and a round of intensive negotiations, employees of the States of Guernsey will revert to a pension age of 65 and be entitled to a lump sum on retirement.

“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.

“Employees of the States of Guernsey are the backbone of the island, delivering a whole range of services on which the community relies on. 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. Workers can now once again look forward to a pension age of 65 and a lump sum on retirement.”