Union prepares for further fall-out from staff over pension reforms
Lloyds Banking Group is expected to announce job cuts for 9,000 staff – around a tenth of its workforce – over a three-year period.
The announcement will come next Tuesday (28 October) as part of Antonio Horta-Osorio’s, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, strategic review of the business.
Since the bank’s near-collapse and government bailout in 2008 and 2009, Lloyds Banking Group – which encompasses the Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and Halifax brands – has already cut 30,000 jobs. A three-year plan made in 2011 aimed to axe a further 15,000 jobs.
While Lloyds made a commitment to maintain branch numbers as part of its takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) in 2009, that commitment expires at the end of the year.
As part of the strategic review Horta-Osorio is expected to announce some branch closures in response to a customer shift towards online banking.
The strategic review is also expected to include the bank’s latest financial results. The government still owns a 25 per cent share in the banking group but has reduced this from around 39 per cent through two share sales since September 2013.
Lloyds has attempted to regain financial stability and profitability by announcing a freeze in pensionable salaries for staff from April this year. The 35,000 employees affected are on defined benefit (final salary) schemes.
The changes mean pensions for those employees will be calculated according to earnings as of 2nd April 2014. Any future years of service and salary increases will not be taken into account when calculating their final pension benefits, a move which has angered staff.
The Lloyds Group trade union Affinity, which represents 40,000 of the Group’s employees, is set to ballot staff on whether to take industrial action – including refusing to work unpaid overtime – over the pension changes. The ballot will close at noon on 28 October 2014.
Affinty’s general secretary, Mark Brown, said employees were particularly disgruntled because Horta-Osorio’s second pension, which was agreed by the Lloyds Banking Group board when he joined the business, remains on a defined benefit scheme.
“The chief executive should be subject to the same pensionable pay freeze as everyone else,” Brown said.
“If it is not good enough for him then it is certainly not good enough for our members.”
A press spokesperson from Lloyds Banking Group said until the strategic update was announced the business was in a “closed period” and declined to make further comment.