BP Plc declined to boost defined benefit payments to retired UK workers by an extra 2% this year, saying that its pension payouts have already been outpacing inflation over the past decade.
The British oil giant said it considered the request “carefully” while acknowledging that the rising cost of living has created “real challenges for many people,” according to a Friday statement.
BP said granting such a request would lift the total annual increase for pensioners to 7% after adding to the plan’s guaranteed inflationary increase this year.
BP’s battle with retired employees over the impact of inflation on their pensions has drawn the attention of British lawmakers, who earlier this year debated regulations of defined-benefit schemes.
UK Pensions Minister Paul Maynard weighed in at the time, saying he would “look closely” into the situation to “understand fully what has happened and whether the arrangements currently in place in regulation are working as intended.”
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