People’s Pension sponsor furloughs 140 staff to alleviate coronavirus impact

Multiemployer plan sponsor B&CE, West Sussex, England, has put 140 staff on temporary leave in response to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The firm, which sponsors the £9.7 billion ($11.3 billion) defined contribution master trust, The People's Pension, is only operating core processes from its offices following advice from the U.K. government, a spokesman said.

The remaining 400 B&CE employees who were not put on leave will continue to service customers. The administration of assets, which is run internally, will continue with essential workers only in the B&CE offices.

Employees on leave will be paid up to 80% of their full salaries through the "Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme," a subsidy program implemented by the U.K. government on March 1 to tackle the impact of the virus on businesses. The program will last for at least three months.

"We're following the government's advice on running essential financial services for customers during this global pandemic and have furloughed a portion of our staff as we focus on core operations and respond to reduced customer demand," the spokesman said in an email.

"We're in unprecedented times and have had to adapt our ways of working and to a changed financial environment — as many businesses have had to do up and down the country. But we will continue to provide the service that our customers need, while meeting our duty of care to staff," the spokesman added.

The U.K. government has put in place a number of other measures, alongside the job retention program, to help businesses cope with the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak.

One move saw it withdraw a planned 10% increase on the general levy paid on occupational and personal retirement plans in the U.K. The levy is paid by pension funds to cover the costs of running The Pensions Regulator, the Pensions Ombudsman Service — which settles disputes over retirement benefits — and the Pensions Advisory Service.

The hike was due to take effect on Wednesday, but was canceled March 27.