Watchdog opens inquiry into shake-up of Boots pensions

COMPANY AXED BENEFIT FOR 60-YEAR-OLD STAFF AS PART OF £4.8 BILLION SELL-OFF

- By JOSHUA HARTLEY

AN INVESTIGATION has opened into a change Boots made to workers' pensions as part of a £4.8 billion deal that made Nottinghamshire's biggest business easier to sell off.

The health and beauty giant's decision to end its policy allowing workers to take an unreduced pension at 60, is being investigated by the Pensions Ombudsman.

In 2023 the firm's American parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) made a multi-billion deal with insurer Legal & General, which both parties said would protect pension scheme members by transferring them and their benefits to L&G - but one part of the arrangement left staff with a sour taste in their mouths.

Former staff, some of whom had worked for Boots for decades and already planned their retirements, have spoken out against the change that left them weighing up whether to work for five more years or take a sizeable cut to their pensions.

Whether this change was legiti-

Boots operates from its Thane Road headquarters between Beeston and Nottingham

mate is now being examined by the ombudsman.