The supermarket group told its 200,000 workers yesterday that it wants to raise by two years the age at which they can claim their full pension.

The company, Britain’s biggest supermarket, also announced that it intends to move the inflation index it uses to calculate annual payment increases from the retail prices index (RPI) to the “cheaper” consumer prices index (CPI), which excludes mortgage payments, council tax and house price depreciation.

retail price index: 零售价格指数

consumer price index: 消费者物价指数

mortgage payments: 按揭付款

council tax: （英国的）家庭税；议会税

depreciation: 折旧；贬值

The switch could mean workers receive up to 20 per cent smaller payouts upon retirement, experts said.

Tesco is by far the biggest company to suggest raising the retirement age for its workers. Other major companies are likely to follow suit, it was claimed.

follow suit: 跟着做；学样

Tesco operates a famously generous defined-benefit pension scheme, which offers a predetermined monthly payout based on career earnings, and the moves are likely to be met with opposition. The scheme has 293,000 members, including 172,000 active workers.

pension scheme: 退休金计划

career earning: 终生奖金总额

The changes will take effect from June, and will affect only future accruals.

future accrual: 未来收益

While Tesco is believed to be the first major company to move its pension age to 67, it follows a number of companies in changing from RPI to CPI as a basis for payment increases. The move saved BT £2.9 billion, while BAE Systems, the engineering company, and British Airways have also cut costs in this way.

Tesco had a pension scheme deficit of £275 million last year, and the company has struggled in recent months. It admitted it needs to spend “hundreds of millions” revamping its supermarkets.

Tesco said the later pension age did not mean workers had to retire two years later. A spokesman said: “Our staff can still retire at 65; indeed they can still retire any time after 55. These changes don’t require colleagues to work any longer, do not require colleagues to pay more and will not affect the pension that staff have already built up.”

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