Lloyds has announced another round of branch closures. 79 Lloyds and Halifax branches will close starting from September 2026. That’s in addition to all the announcements that have been since the beginning of the year.
We said in a previous Newsletter that the demise of the Halifax brand, the co-serving of customers between Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland branches and preventing customers from doing certain transactions were the final nails in the coffin of branch banking.
And Lloyds is trying to close branches on the cheap. Staff will either be offered roles in those branches that are still open (not that many left now) or forced into other roles in another part of the business. Under the revised redundancy terms agreed by Accord and Unite a few years ago, Lloyds can reduce redundancy payments by 50% if staff don’t accept a ‘reasonable alternative role or reskilling opportunity’. And HR determines what is a ‘reasonable’.
At the time we said:
“If a member of staff subject to redundancy is offered a ‘suitable alternative role’ and they refuse it unreasonably, then they could leave Lloyds with no redundancy payment. What constitutes a ‘suitable alternative employment’ role is a legal test governed by the law not Lloyds. Introducing this new ‘reasonable alternative role’ test, which is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, is aimed at giving Lloyds the power to bypass the law and force members of staff into whatever roles it likes.”.
If members are offered alternative roles which they believe aren’t suitable they should contact the Union’s Advice Team immediately.
We expect the new 3-year strategy, which is due to be announced at the end of July, will herald more job cuts across the organisation and the so called ‘reasonable alternative role’ test will be used increasingly by Lloyds to reduce its redundancy bill.
Lloyds staff have got Accord and Unite to thank for that abomination!
The Shambles That Is WTW
In my last Newsletter I reported that Willis Towers Watson, who administer the Lloyds pension schemes on behalf of the Trustee, was hounding retired members of staff to pay back pension and transfer value ‘overpayments’ which it had miscalculated. In all cases the ‘overpayments’ relate to members who retired 5 or more years ago.
The Trustee needs to get a grip of this shambles and we have written to the Chairman of the Board. A copy of that letter is set out below:
Mr. Harry Baines
Chairman
Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustee Limited
25 Gresham Street
London
EC2V 7HN
12th June 2026
Dear Mr. Baines
WTW – Overpayments
You will be aware that Willis Towers Watson (WTW), who administer the pension schemes on behalf of the Trustee, have written threatening letters to members of the Lloyds Bank Pension Scheme No 1 demanding they pay back overpaid pensions and lump sums. In most cases those overpayments were made 5 years ago.
WTW has admitted that it used an incorrect late retirement factor when calculating pension entitlements and that resulted in some members getting higher transfer values and pensions.
That error was made by WTW and it should be responsible for consequences of the mistake it made. To put it bluntly, WTW had one job: calculate pensions and transfer values correctly. It failed to do that and it’s now hounding retired members of staff to pay back money it overpaid.
We understand the Trustee is under an obligation to recover payments that have been made incorrectly. However, that doesn’t mean those payments must be made by members of the scheme who had every right to expect that their pension and lump sum payments would be calculated correctly. WTW should be required to pay for its mistake and it should foot the bill for the overpayments.
I’m sure you will understand that members have been shocked to receive letters from WTW especially after so long. In one case a member who retired on ill health grounds with an aggressive form of breast cancer received a letter saying she had to pay back £59,000 because her transfer value had been miscalculated by WTW. She used her small lump sum from Lloyds to purchase an annuity and pay for private medical insurance whilst she battled cancer. She’s distraught and worried that the Trustee is going to take her house. That’s just one example of the misery suffered by members of the Lloyds pension scheme because of the actions of WTW.
It’s also the case that members are having to get involved in lengthy correspondence with WTW to receive any form of compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its actions. That’s unacceptable. Everyone who has received a letter demanding money back should get a one-off payment of £2500 paid by WTW.
The Trustee Board can’t be bystanders whilst this shambles unfolds.
I look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely
Mark Brown
We will be returning to these issues again in our next Newsletters. In the meantime, members with any questions can contact the Union’s Bedford Office on 01234 262868 (Choose Option 1).
MEMBERS SHOULD PASS THIS NEWSLETTER ON TO THEIR COLLEAGUES IN HALIFAX & LLOYDS SO THEY TOO CAN BENEFIT FROM THE ONLY INDEPENDENT TRADE UNION IN LLOYDS BANKING GROUP.