Financial Services Union expresses serious concern at Ulster Bank decision to curb pension entitlements for staff

Changes by Ulster Bank will see thousands of current pensioners and future retirees suffer financial loss.

The Financial Services Union have expressed real concern over the decision by Ulster Bank to apply a new interpretation surrounding the cap applied to yearly pension increases in the Bank. Ulster Bank have informed their staff that from this year they will apply a cap of 2.5% on any possible increase to pensions. This contrasts sharply with the 5% cap that has been in place for the last couple of decades.

According to the FSU this new cap has been applied because the bank claims it has new legal advice that it has wrongly interpreted the rules of the pension scheme for years.

Commenting on the announcement from Ulster Bank John O’Connell, General Secretary of the FSU said:

“Ulster Bank have been applying a 5% cap on pension increases for decades.

They have informed us that new legal advice has been received which contradicts current practice and which indicates the Bank should have been applying a 2.5% increase not 5% over that timeframe.

This raises many fundamental questions for the Bank and is a deeply concerning development for members of the scheme.

It is incumbent on the Bank to make a clear statement to members on the legal advice received, how this was allowed to develop over decades, how many are affected by the change and why they have taken the decision to change current practice instead of rectifying the rules of the scheme to meet new legal requirements.

The Bank and trustees should immediately meet with affected staff and explain in detail their rationale for the change. The Bank should withhold any change to the pension scheme until a full report is issued which answers the concerns of affected members.

This is a very serious development where accepted practice for two decades has been overturned.

It is incredulous that in the same week that NatWest announce pretax profits of £7.7 billion for 2025 they are looking to lower benefits for their retirees”.

ENDS