HPPA Update January 2024:
Well, some months have gone by since the terrific turnout for the Day of Action outside HPE’s HQ where we handed over our 1000 signature petition. We would have hoped that our protest would have led to a meeting with HP exec’s, but to no avail! Hardly surprising I suppose, as the senior management have refused to meet us for the past 5 years.
However, we have made progress on a number of fronts. We have been able to get in front of the Parliamentary Committee responsible for pensions matters concerning our effort to have the pensions authorities develop and approve an ‘Ethical Code of Practice’. Dave Carson, one of the HPPA steering team, has been instrumental in developing our proposal and attended a recent meeting of the committee to answer questions set by the MP’s. It is too early to tell if we will be successful, although there appears to be little enthusiasm on the part of the DWP and the Pensions Regulator to produce such a code. We are asking members to write to their MP’s asking them to contact both parties suggesting that they take positive steps to to achieve our aim. Further details can be found here.
We have also developed useful relationships with a number of other pensioner action groups with the aim of developing joint initiatives that put pressure on politicians and companies like AMEX, 3M, and Woods/Foster Wheeler who’s pre 97 pensioners are being treated in similar way to HP pensioners. Our media campaign has had some success after our story was picked up by Patrick Hosking in The Times. His article appeared in the newspaper in the New Year which can be viewed here. (Please note that this article is behind a paywall). We are looking to develop relationships with other media people to publicise our ongoing plight.
We have made good progress in raising the public profile of our campaign, however, our recent request for volunteers to join the team has had limited success. Everyone can help by bringing attention to the situation with their MP’s and news media and lending a hand to the team, so, if you believe that you can add value by joining the Steering Group, we really would like to hear from you.