UNISON urges pensions regulator to press for stronger data safety

UNISON has written to the pensions regulator to press for stronger protections to ensure that members’ pensions are safe, after outsourcing firm Capita experienced hacking attacks in March and May this year.

Among the data that has been compromised is information entrusted to Capita by some 450 pension schemes.

UNISON members are in some of the schemes and funds affected, including the Environment Agency Pension Fund (EAPF), Natural Resources Wales, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and some local government pension funds. Capita has stated that its own pension scheme data has also been compromised, affecting its own employees.

More information about the extent of the data breach is emerging. UNISON members who are active members of the EAPF have received a letter from the company alerting them that the data concerned includes name, address, email address, date of birth, national insurance number, salary, employment details and history, pension amounts and history, and expression of wish details.

Capita has appointed an expert to monitor the web to check if the compromised data has been published. It is also offering affected members of the EAPF and USS schemes an Experian identity theft protection service.

Where this is available to members, they should be encouraged to take up the offer.

UNISON is clear that it is the responsibility of Capita and the pension funds that have entrusted the company with members’ data to mitigate against the risks resulting from this failure to keep data safe.

The union is urging pension funds to keep engaging with Capita and to press them for more information, while also contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office to call on it to pursue an investigation into the cause and risks of the data breach.

The article UNISON urges pensions regulator to press for stronger data safety first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON urges pensions regulator to press for stronger data safety

UNISON has written to the pensions regulator to press for stronger protections to ensure that members’ pensions are safe, after outsourcing firm Capita experienced hacking attacks in March and May this year.

Among the data that has been compromised is information entrusted to Capita by some 450 pension schemes.

UNISON members are in some of the schemes and funds affected, including the Environment Agency Pension Fund (EAPF), Natural Resources Wales, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and some local government pension funds. Capita has stated that its own pension scheme data has also been compromised, affecting its own employees.

More information about the extent of the data breach is emerging. UNISON members who are active members of the EAPF have received a letter from the company alerting them that the data concerned includes name, address, email address, date of birth, national insurance number, salary, employment details and history, pension amounts and history, and expression of wish details.

Capita has appointed an expert to monitor the web to check if the compromised data has been published. It is also offering affected members of the EAPF and USS schemes an Experian identity theft protection service.

Where this is available to members, they should be encouraged to take up the offer.

UNISON is clear that it is the responsibility of Capita and the pension funds that have entrusted the company with members’ data to mitigate against the risks resulting from this failure to keep data safe.

The union is urging pension funds to keep engaging with Capita and to press them for more information, while also contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office to call on it to pursue an investigation into the cause and risks of the data breach.

The article UNISON urges pensions regulator to press for stronger data safety first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON urges caution over new pension scheme

UNISON is urging caution after this week’s announcement by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that it is launching a new UK pension model.

The UK government seeks to introduce collective defined contribution schemes as an alternative to the UK’s current two primary pension scheme models – defined contribution and defined benefit.

The new scheme is a result of the Pensions Schemes Act that was passed in 2021.

UNISON sees defined benefit schemes as vital in providing decent pensions for many public service workers. However, millions of public service workers – including UNISON members – are not eligible to join such schemes and are dependent on defined contributions schemes instead.

The union has negotiated with employers in these sectors and has successfully brought about a number of relatively high-quality defined contributions schemes for members in recent years.

UNISON head of pensions Glyn Jenkins said that caution was needed when employers consider any changes to existing pension arrangements. “These new pension arrangements must not erode current provision,” he commented.

“UNISON supports improving member outcomes through the introduction of collective defined contribution for members in defined contribution schemes, but the new schemes should not be used to replace viable defined benefit schemes.”

Mr Jenkins pointed out that, on the basis of the union’s experience, many defined contribution schemes will not provide an adequate income for their members.

This is for a number of reasons, including, “woefully inadequate levels of contributions – especially from the employers – and charges on investments.”

He continued: “Collective defined contribution schemes should improve the position for members in defined contributions schemes. Even though such schemes do not guarantee benefit levels, they do set a target benefit level that may be reached.”

The article UNISON urges caution over new pension scheme first appeared on the UNISON National site.