West Yorkshire Pension Fund - Strike action and your pension

Strike action and your pension

If you go on strike for a full day or more, the days you are on strike do not count towards your pension.

You do not get pension scheme membership for the strike days and that means you will have those few days less membership when your pension is worked out when you leave or retire.

But, if you want, you can 'buy back' the strike days so that your pension is not affected.

The rules are quite tight:

you must buy back all the days you were on strike, not just some of them; and
you have to pay 16% of the pay that you would have got if you had been at work on the days you were on strike.

Once the strike is over your employer will ask you if you want to buy back the strike period so that it still counts towards your pension.

You have 30 days from the date you return to work to decide if you want to buy back the strike days but your employer might give you longer.

The extra contributions will be deducted from your pay, just like your normal pension contributions are. Normally it's a single deduction, but your employer could let you spread it over a longer period.

Please contact your payroll section for more information.

Please note: If you pay extra pension contributions direct to WYPF from your pay you must pay your extra contributions for the strike period.

But if you pay Additional Voluntary Contributions either to Prudential, Scottish Widows or to Equitable Life from your pay you can choose not to pay them for the days you were on strike if you wish.