The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is starting a statutory consultation on proposed government cuts to final salary pension benefits across the NDA estate from 9 January 2017. The consulation will end on Friday 10 March 2017.

Senior trade union representatives from Prospect, GMB, Unite and ASLEF/TSSA will meet in London on 9 January to discuss what action is required.

Eleven thousand workers across 19 sites will be affected:

• Sellafield (Cumbria)
• Magnox (Anglesey, Ayrshire, Dorset, Dumfriesshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Gwynedd, Kent, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk)
• Direct Rail Services (Cumbria)
• Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (Caithness)
• Low Level Waste Repository (Cumbria) and
• International Nuclear Services (Cumbria, Warrington) will be affected.

The government’s expectation is that the final salary pension schemes across the NDA estate will be reformed by April 2018.

Dai Hudd, Prospect deputy general secretary, said: “Prospect members in the nuclear industry are some of the most highly-skilled workers in the UK – indeed some of them are world leaders in their field.

“There is no justification for cutting these workers’ future pensions by more than £600m.

“They have every right to demand that governments honour their commitments to them over the lifespan of this essential work.

“There was a justified outcry when Philip Green was accused of taking a similar amount – £580m – from the BHS pension fund. Reaction to this Treasury-inspired raid should be no different.”