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RBS pensioners get 0.1% rise as Fred scrapes by on £1,900 a day
Sri Carmichael08.04.09
Royal Bank of Scotland has told retired employees they will receive just 0.1 per cent inflation on their annual pension payouts this year.
The tiny rise provoked anger among former staff, who have condemned the £1,900-a-day pension given to the bank's former boss Sir Fred Goodwin.
More than 50,000 RBS pensioners received letters today informing them of the meagre adjustment as figures revealed shop prices have soared.
The British Retail Consortium said food cost nine per cent more than it did a year ago.
Research shows that the overall real cost of living for the elderly is rising at nearly five per cent — double the rate for those under 30, according to investment group Alliance Trust.
Sir Fred has so far refused to give up any of his gold-plated retirement fund, despite government pleas and public outrage.
His disastrous tenure was blamed for the bank's decision yesterday to shed a further 9,000 jobs, half of them in Britain.
Many former employees hold shares in the bank and have watched them plummet in value during the last six months.
Today's fresh blow to their financial position has left many shocked.
An 89-year-old widow, whose husband was an RBS bank manager for 45 years, said: “It's disgraceful that the bank is not looking after its staff who worked for it when it was an organisation to be proud of, while the man who ruined it walks away with a fortune.
“I have a substantial amount of my savings in RBS shares and Sir Fred Goodwin has destroyed my finances.”
A Royal Bank of Scotland spokesman said the pension inflation rate was set annually according to the Retail Price Index in January, with a ceiling of three per cent.
The RPI has fallen dramatically because it includes the price of shop goods as well as housing costs, which have been affected by the collapse in the property market.
The RBS spokesman said the pension rate could not move from the RPI: “We are following the rules of the pension fund. Most pension funds use the RPI. We cannot slip between measures.
“The inflation rate will apply to Sir Fred Goodwin's pension as well.”
Reader views (6)
But the RPI figure to be used when calculating pension increases is surely September of the previous year i.e. September 2008. I wonder when this changed
- Alan Todhunter, Peterborough UK
George, Cambridge - your comment is patent nonsense. My wife worked for years for RBS and the "increase" she received notification of yesterday was insulting - the paper it was written on probably cost more. She wasn't at managerial level, but she and her colleagues were the backbone of an organisation that used to be the premier bank in Scotland before Goodwin and his like wrecked it.
- Brian, Camberley
The media really are wringing this story well beyond its sell-by date.....but RedMickyinLondon on past records you would be complaining about greedy bankers if they'd been given any increases on their pensions...surely a 0.1% increase to these greedy bankers is great news in your bitter wee world of envy
- Dc, London
Oh dear, another nail in freddies coffin
- Carlo Cusano, Bedford
Sir Fred Goodwin is a disgrace to the whole Nation.
But he is an ex Banker and Businessman; so what do you expect of his kind?
But what goes around, often comes around; and I am sure Goodwin will get his one day.
- Mickyinlondon, london
A large number of RBS pensioners will have benefitted and seen their pensions inflated over the past few years because of wrongdoings within the bank. The amazing thing is that any increase is going to be paid. The wife of the bank manager who is complaining is doubtless living on a pension that many of can only dream about.
- George, Cambridge UK
