The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority

26 May 2006

Following on from the three month consultation period on the industry-wide pension scheme which met with broad support detailed plans have been drawn up. These will be sent to the Government shortly for their consideration.

Comments received have been very useful and if you were one of those who took the time to comment, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you. We will be issuing a detailed response shortly to the various points that were made.

The NDA have been working closely with the trade unions throughout the development of the scheme and they have agreed with some elements but not others.

In summary, progress so far includes

• the name put forward is the ‘Combined Nuclear Pension Plan’;
• trustees from the NDA and trade unions have been nominated and are being appointed (shadow trustees have held two meetings);
• all staff employed by the Site Licence companies (SLCs) will be eligible to transfer (BNG Sellafield, Magnox Electric, Springfields);
• the first group to transfer will be Springfields staff;
• the benefits of the plan for those transferring from the existing schemes have been agreed as ‘no less favourable’; and
• the UKAEA pensions office at Thurso has been appointed to administer the scheme.

The NDA’s scheme proposes that new staff joining a private sector SLC at some future point will be offered a high quality service through the plan but not a ‘final salary’ option.

Staff working for Site Management companies (SMCs) and other areas not included within an SLC, will benefit from having their pensions protected as part of their rights under the Energy Act. The NDA is committed to ensure that appropriate pension arrangements are put in place by their employers as part of the overall benefits package.