In October 2005, the European Commission published a draft Directive which aims to improve the ability of workers to transfer supplementary pension rights when they move jobs. The Commission argues that current rules governing this are a barrier to labour mobility and the Directive will thus improve occupational mobility within Member States and from one Member State to another. The Directive therefore proposes a series of harmonised rules on vesting, waiting periods and the transferability of pension rights.
EEF has a number of concerns about the practicality of the proposal and believes that it could add further pension scheme burdens for employers and thus act as a disincentive for them to provide supplementary schemes.
The Directive is currently going through its 1st Reading in the European Parliament, and EEF this week briefed key UK MEPs on the Parliament’s Employment Committee in advance of them discussing the proposal for the first time. We are now likely to work with MEPs to seek amendments to lessen the impact of the proposal. EEF has also made a joint-submission with other business groups to the DWP’s initial consultation on the issue. This can be downloaded here, and sets out in more details some of our concerns over the proposal.