50 Years

The Plumbing & Mechanical Services (UK) Industry Scheme celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

The Scheme was established on 6 April 1975 by two industry trade associations, SNIPEF1¹ and APHC2², with additional input and support since its formation from Unite the Union and its predecessors. 

Over the last 50 years the Scheme has provided access to high quality salary related pension benefits for 58,000 individuals working in the plumbing and mechanical services sector and over 4,500 employers have used the Scheme for their employees’ workplace pension savings. 

The Scheme closed to new retirement savings on 30 June 2019 owing to the changing pensions landscape increasing the cost and administrative burden of such schemes for employers. The Scheme has currently over 30,000 members and pays over £3m in pension benefits every month. 

The Trustee and in-house administration team are proud of the successes over the last five decades. To date, the Scheme has never required employers to pay in any additional contributions to fund a deficit and there remains a high level of confidence that all member benefits will be paid in full. The team continues to pride itself on being available to members and in the high level of service the Scheme continues to provide. 

As we celebrate this milestone, it’s a reminder of the vision behind the Scheme: to protect workers’ futures and ensure they can retire with financial stability, no matter what the future holds.

¹ Scotland & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation

²Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors