By focusing relentlessly on the Mr. Horta-Osorio’s pension allowance worth 33% of his basic salary, and the allowances for all senior executives compared to those for staff generally, the union has forced Lloyds Banking Group to cut his pension package by £230,000 to 15% of base pay. And the money saved by reducing the pension allowances of all senior executives, will be used to increase the minimum level of employer contribution in the DC scheme from 8% to 9%, and the maximum employer contribution to 15% from July 2020. And let us not forget, we also forced Mr. Horta-Osorio to reduce the value of his defined benefit pension.
Following our campaign with MPs, institutional investors and in the media, details of which can be found here, Mr. Horta-Osorio and Mr. Stuart Sinclair, Chairman of the Lloyds Banking Group Remuneration Committee, were called in front of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. Whilst Mr. Horta-Osorio acquitted himself well in the circumstances, Mr. Sinclair’s performance was an unmitigated disaster culminating in two remarkable statements. He said he had visited lots of branches to find out what staff were thinking on key issues like executive pay and pensions and that those staff he spoke to considered Mr. Antonio Horta-Osorio, Group Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group to be “charismatic” and a “winner” who deserved his £6 million pay package. That was news to staff and us.
Following the Committee hearing, the union sent a survey to a representative sample of members in Lloyds, covering all the main business units, asking for their views on some of the issues raised by Mr. Sinclair in his evidence.
The Survey Results
The full results of that survey, which we shared with all MPs, were as follows:
- 98% of staff responding to the survey said they had never been contacted by Mr. Sinclair directly or by the bank asking them for their views on executive pay and pensions.
- 98% of respondents said they were not aware of anyone in their office or branch who had been contacted either by Mr. Sinclair directly or by the bank asking for their views on executive pay and pensions.
- 90% of respondents said the Group Chief Executive didn’t deserve his £6 million pay package.
- 91% of respondents said the Group Chief Executive didn’t deserve the £50 million package he’d earned since taking up his executive role in Lloyds.
- Only 12% of respondents said that they would describe Mr. Horta-Osorio as a “Charismatic Winner”.
- Only 7% of respondents said they would consider putting their views on Mr. Horta-Osorio’s pay and pensions package on Hive, the bank’s internal social media site.
- 81% of respondents said it was greed that drove Mr. Horta-Osorio decision not to apply the 0% pensions cap to his own final salary pension.
- 93% of respondents agreed with us that the bank’s annual engagement survey should include questions about executive pay and pensions.
The union’s full response to the Work and Pensions Committee’s investigation into executive pay and pensions can be found at https://files.btuonline.co.uk/newsletters/the-unacceptable-face-of-capitalism.pdf.
Members with any questions on this Newsletter can contact the Union’s Advice Team on 01234 262868.