URTU forms pension scheme for drivers
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by Derren Hayes • The first ever personal pension plan for lorry drivers has been set up by the United Road Transport Union (URTU) and insurance firm Scottish Amicable.
The scheme is being launched this week by Labour Shadow Transport Secretary Clare Short and Trades Union Congress General Secretary John Monks. It will initially be restricted to URTU members and their partners, but it could be offered to drivers in other unions within a year.
The move follows 18 months of planning and consultation by URTU and insurance firms Mariet and Scottish Amicable.
A survey of drivers carried out by URTU found that more than a third had no pension cover at all and of those with schemes nearly two thirds were dissatisfied and wanted a scheme tailored to the fluctuating nature of lorry driving.
The Scottish Amicable scheme has set a minimum rate of only £20 per month because many drivers felt pension schemes were too expensive. Payments increase by 5% a year but can be stopped and started or increased and decreased at any time.
URTU was particularly keen to introduce a clause to help protect drivers who lose their jobs because of poor health. The new scheme covers this by keeping up pension payments of any driver who loses a job for medical reasons until he either retires or finds another job.
The URTU says: "Many drivers have their careers cut short with no warning or through no fault of their own when they take a mandatory medical test at the age of 45. This pension scheme offers some kind of protection against that."