Wolseley is consulting with staff about proposals to close its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to future accrual on 31 December 2013.
Under the terms of the plumbing organisation’s proposals, the pension benefits staff have already built up within the scheme will be protected and there will be no changes to the arrangements for retired and deferred members.
From 1 January 2014, all employees will be provided with access Wolseley’s trust-based defined contribution (DC) scheme.
Its consultation period with staff began on 6 March 2013 and will close on 6 June.
A spokesperson for Wolseley UK said: “We currently run two pension arrangements: a DB plan and a DC plan. We want to provide one common pension and benefits package to all our employees that is fair, competitive and sustainable.
“We are consulting with employees enrolled in our DB pension plan about our proposals to close the plan to future service, as well as improve the current DC pension plan.
“This is not a cost-saving measure. We do not expect to reduce the amount of money we spend on pensions and we believe this will give all of our employees the same opportunities to build up a valuable pension as part of their benefits package.”
