September 2021.
A number of the HPPA team recently met with Paul Early, the Chairman, and other representatives of the HP Pension Scheme Trustees Board.
We had a frank but constructive exchange, seeking their views on how, once again, the company had failed to grant a discretionary increase to pre-1997 pension entitlements and the appalling letter sent by the ‘Management Team’ informing us of their decision.
Alan Evans wrote to the HPE Corporate CEO, Antonio Neri, expressing our disgust at such a terse and impersonal message which elicited a response from the UK CEO that merely reiterated statements from previous efforts to engage and gain a thorough explanation for these decisions.
Our view is that the company is disinclined to plough any more money than is absolutely necessary into the pension scheme or to add additional risk to its balance sheet, therefore, it is unlikely to make any discretionary increases for the remainder of the pension plans life. It is not clear to us who makes the final decision on discretionary increases, but we were persuaded that the Trustees made a significant effort to encourage the company to grant an increase this year and it is hoped that they will make a similar effort for 2022.
To this end, the HPPA team is planning to provide the Trustees and HPE with tangible evidence of the hardship that zero increases are having on members. Our recent message to you will play to this strategy. We have also prepared a comprehensive presentation to put before the Trustees to encourage and arm them with data for their forthcoming dialogue with the company. We aim to hold a face to face meeting with the Trustees in time to influence these discussions.
We are also floating the idea of a collaborative governance review to with the aim of improving the overall management of the pension scheme as it reaches maturity.
The team appreciates your ongoing support in helping us to break the deadlock between HPE and its pensioners (whether active or deferred).
Please feel free to share this with your HP network.