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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the prison service of prison officers working longer before retirement.

Andrew Selous

The Alpha pension, which introduced a higher Normal Pension Age, was brought in under legislation. All consultation/negotiations with the Civil Service trade unions including the Prison Officers Association (POA) who are the trade union responsible for prison officers in the National Offender Management Service were carried out by the Pension Scheme Executive in Civil Service Pensions – Cabinet Office. The Pension Scheme Executive in 2012, held separate additional talks with the POA regarding the increase in pension age and offered a package under the Enhanced Effective Pension Age (EEPA). This provided an opportunity for staff to purchase a lower pension age, which would be subsidised by the employer. The POA membership through postal vote, rejected this offer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how prison officers were informed of changes to their pensions following the transfer from Classic to the Alpha Scheme; and how those changes affected the employment contracts of such prison officers.

Andrew Selous

During the consultation period with The Pension Scheme Executive in the Cabinet Office, the Prison Officers Association (POA) published various bulletins and communications confirming the change in pension arrangements. Additionally NOMS HR circulated communications through their internal Intranet system which is available to all staff. The intranet article directed staff to the Civil Service Pension website which held the details about the pension changes being introduced. Cabinet Office issued letters to all staff informing them of the pension changes. NOMS policy is to not issue new employment contracts or variations for routine legislation changes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Newlands on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department took to inform prison officers in Scotland of the transfer of Civil Service Employee Pensions from the Classic to the Alpha Scheme.

Matthew Hancock

Prison Officers employed in the Scottish Prison Service are members of the Civil Service. All members of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) who transitioned into the Civil Service (and Others) Pension Scheme (CSOPS, also known as alpha) were notified by letter to inform them of the change, in accordance with the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations. In addition, relevant Employers were provided with a variety of communication products to inform their staff and support those who needed to make decisions. These were also held on the Civil Service Pensions website.

Between 2011 and 2015 Cabinet Office Ministers and officials held extensive discussions with all of the Civil Service unions, including the Prison Officers’ Association, on the detail of the pension reforms. There was also discussion with both the Scottish Prison Service and National Offender Management Service on the detail of the pension offer to operational staff in Prisons.

The Civil Service is a Reserved Matter and this includes pensions for all Civil Servants. Representations on the pension age of Scottish Prison Officers were made to me by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice in July last year. I replied later that month.