BEEFEATERS and other palace staff will strike over the Christmas period against changes to their pension scheme.

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members at the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace voted by over 90 per cent to take strike action on Friday December 21.

They claim that moves by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) management to move them to a defined-contribution pension scheme will make them poorer in retirement, and with less than what was promised when they entered the scheme.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members are not paid a king’s ransom and the pension is one of the things that encourages people to stay in the job and deliver a first-class service to the public.

“People who treasure these historic buildings in London should be left in no doubt that any disruption caused due to strike action, will be solely down to HRP’s intransigence in not paying our members a decent pension.”