Retail sector pensions

An important element of the PAT’s strategy is to seek to identify and establish relationships with other regional archives in the UK (civic or corporate) which contain pension-related records, in order to provide an overview of this material via the PAT website and thus facilitate research in the field of pensions history.

To begin to fulfil this purpose, steps have been taken towards obtaining information from a number of company archives in the retail sector, by way of a survey questionnaire. Both Sainsbury and Marks & Spencer have a publicly accessible on-line catalogue of their archival material, and a detailed response has been received from Boots.

Boots

Pensions information held in the Boots Archive covers a date range 1911 – 2011 and includes:

• Property ledgers relating to freehold properties owned by Boots Pensions and others.
• Explanatory literature and other information relating to the pension schemes of Boots and associated companies.
• Pensions accounting reports and other financial information.
• Statutory developments relating to pensions and their relevance to Boots pensions.

Contact details for the Boots Archive can be found on the National Archives Discovery website.

Sainsbury

Pensions information held in the Sainsbury Archive covers a date range 1920s – 1990s and includes:

• Accounting records
• Meeting minutes
• Various explanatory literature relating to pensions and benefit schemes
• Correspondence relating to pensions
• Staff handbooks and other publications

To find out more about the Sainsbury Archive, please see their online catalogue.

Contact details can be found on the The Sainsburys Archive Catalogue website.

Marks & Spencer

Pensions information held in the Marks & Spencer archive covers a date range 1930s to 1990s, and includes:

• Trustees reports, annual reports and accounts and balance sheets, and other official documentation (Reference E7/1/1)
• Various explanatory literature relating to the Marks & Spencer Pension Scheme (Reference E7/1/3)

To search the Marks & Spencer records, please see their archive catalogue.

For contact details, please see their website.

Data Protection

All three archives also include information relating to individuals’ contributions and benefits. Please be aware that such items are generally closed to public access, in accordance with Data Protection legislation.