Pension Provision Following Administration of Carillion – Pension Protection Fund

My Ref: MRP 1/8/46 12th February 2019

Circular Num: NP/030/19

To: The Secretary All Branches & Regional Councils

Dear Colleagues,

Pension Provision Following Administration of Carillion –
Pension Protection Fund

As you will be aware following the collapse of the Carillion in January 2018 the two Carillion Rail sections of the Railways Pension Scheme (RPS), GTRM and Centrac, were placed in the assessment period of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

RMT representatives have recently received concerns raised by a number of our retired members in respect of a letter they received from Quattro Pensions regarding the PPF assessment period. As a result of this letter, and the fact our members do not know who or why their pension benefits are be handled by Quattro Pensions, they feel that they have been forgotten by the RPS following the collapse of Carillion.

On behalf of all our members affected by this appalling event I have raised these concerns with the administrators of the RPS (rpmi) who responded on 7th February 2019. This is the reply:

“As we know, the Carillion (GTRM) Section – as well as the Carillion (Centrac) Section – entered a PPF assessment period following the unfortunate entry of Carillion Construction Limited into liquidation on 15 January 2018.
As part of the PPF assessment period, some of the ongoing administration of the two Carillion Sections is now being carried out by Quattro Pensions as part of the PPF’s standard approach of getting PPF assessment period tasks dealt with by firms on specialist panels. Quattro Pensions are an independent firm of consulting actuaries and administrators based in Redditch and are carrying out some of the actuarial and administration tasks during the PPF assessment period for the Carillion sections.
The Trustee was keen to provide an early communication to members after the insolvency event and, as such, wrote to members of the GTRM and Centrac Sections on 19 January 2018, with a further letter following once the PPF had confirmed that a PPF assessment period had commenced. Copies of the GTRM versions of both of these letters sent are attached for information. The second of these letters – dated 23 March 2018 – provided a brief introduction to Quattro and the work that they would be doing, although we appreciate that many members may not have read or remembered that information.

The work being carried out by Quattro – and the types of communications that they are sending to members – covers items such as data cleansing, dealing with retirements during the assessment period (given that PPF rules apply to such benefits), securing BRASS funds and communicating the results of the valuation to establish whether the sections will transfer to the PPF. The Trustee and RPMI continue to be engaged with these processes and we understand that the PPF are targeting a completion date for the PPF assessment period towards the end of this year.
During the PPF assessment process, it is a requirement that member benefits must not be any higher than those that would apply if the sections were in the PPF. A summary of the key aspects of PPF compensation is covered within both of the attached letters. In the event that the conclusion of either of the PPF assessment periods were to be that the relevant section does not transfer to the PPF, a higher level of benefit would apply.
RPMI are very conscious that the Carillion members we had previously supported directly are no longer within our remit. Please be assured that there is no wish to distance ourselves from these members. Instead, Quattro’s involvement is a necessary stage in the PPF process that was established to give protection to members in the event of employer insolvency – and, as Quattro have now assumed some of the roles that we had previously discharged, we are necessarily limited in the level of support we can give these members.”
The aforementioned letters are included with this circular.
The RMT National Executive Committee on 7th February 2019 in consideration made the following report:

“We note the updated report and instruct the General Secretary to produce a circular to all affected members provided by the rpmi to update them on the current position and to place any report updates back to the NEC.

All affected members to be contacted by text, email and a Royal Mail letter. All effected Branches and Regional Councils to be informed.”

I will keep you informed of developments.

Yours sincerely,

Mick Cash
General Secretary