hmrc collecting tax from public sector workers

Percy1983

The_White_Horse wrote: »

you have to be a certain type to work in the public sector. a guardian reading, sandal wearing lentil eating beaurocrat with a "no can do" attitude. i'd rip my own head off and guage out my own eyeballs if I had to work with these people.

"can someone get me a paper clip?"

"we'd better have a meeting about this, and set up a committee"

"just a paper clip"

"we have to set up a procurement committee to make sure the public are getting value for this paper clip. I will set aside £30m budget for this and get the health and safety team involved to check the rooms are ok to have the meetings in. until the rooms are safe I suggest we meet via Skype and I will have IT attend your house to set it all up"

"but, it's just a paper clip"

"yes, but we also need to go on a fact finding mission to the US to see how paper clips are used there"

"What?"

"Yes, and an in depth study in cultural differences into the use of paper clips"

"Er.."

"oh and an investigation into the gay and lesbian communities and their use of the paper clip. We hear they tend to staple. Why?? WHY???"

"but i need one now"

"this should only take 3 maybe 4 years and then we'll order them. once we have all the bases covered and had some "blue sky thinking" and possibly some "role plays".

"I quit"

"you can't quit, we will send you on a course, then on counselling - is there anything else we can do to waste money? I mean, provide value for taxpayers?"

I just asked a colleque for a paperclip, they opened their draw and slide a small handful of paperclips to me.

Look at that for efficient, I won't need to ask for a while now.

Andy_L

Percy1983 wrote: »

I just asked a colleque for a paperclip, they opened their draw and slide a small handful of paperclips to me.

Look at that for efficient, I won't need to ask for a while now.

Well thats obviously a total waste of public money by having far more paperclips than you need

Percy1983

Andy_L wrote: »

Well thats obviously a total waste of public money by having far more paperclips than you need

This is true we should order them one by one as we need them :rotfl:

grizzly1911

Andy_L wrote: »

Well thats obviously a total waste of public money by having far more paperclips than you need

Perhaps a gauge should be issued to all public servants , a bit like that thing they use in the post office to measure envelopes/parcels, and if they are out of tolerance they could be recycled.;)

Buellguy

Andy_L wrote: »

The current Civil Service pension (nuvos) is currently the worst of the public sector ones as it was already a career average and was thus shafted far more by the change to CPI indexation compared to final salary schemes.

Come the imminent changes to most public sector schems they will (excluding the police/military), once again be much of a muchness

Be careful there

AFPS - Tracking Changes
Are you keeping track of all the issues that have had an impact on the Armed Forces Pension Scheme in the past five years, and the likely changes that are to be implemented in the next five years?
Here are what I consider to be the most important headings:
Changes That Are Already In Place

• a. Introduction of the new AFPS05 Pension Scheme and the rules surrounding the opportunity to transfer to the new scheme.
• b. Change to the age that Pension Credit members can receive their portion of pension in respect of a Pension Sharing Order following divorce.
• c. Changes to the rules on the eligibility to receive Resettlement and Life Commutation to those who apply after leaving the Armed Forces.

Changes Effective from April 2011

• d. Changes to the rules regarding qualification requirements for the award of an immediate pension for those on AFPS75 who are made redundant, together with a change to the amount of Special Capital Payment payable.
• e. A reduction of over 80% in the Annual Allowance a pension can increase by in value in a given year, before an Income Tax liability is due, bringing many more serving personnel into an area of taxation that they would not normally have expected to be part of.
• f. The change of prices index used to increase pensions in issue or deferment from the RPI rate to the CPI rate.

Expected Changes by 2015

• g. Reduction in the Life Time Allowance from £1.8m to £1.5m.
• h. The introduction of a brand new pension scheme that is not a final salary pension scheme.

As you can see, quite a radical shake-up in a world where the mere mention of the word ‘pensions’ is often sufficient to induce deep sleep, or at the very least, a roll of the eyes in a heavenly direction. But ignore these things at your peril. Over 80% of the UK population have no form of income in retirement other than their Occupational/Private pensions, and/or their State Pension (which is also undergoing some major changes in the next five years or so – but I don’t have time to touch on that here), so it is in your interest to know how all of these changes are going to affect YOU.
I have a strong suspicion that many of the younger readers will, if they have got this far, look at the list above and think that perhaps just the new pension scheme of the future might affect them, but I would be inclined to disagree. The change in the index to be used to increase a pension once it is in payment will mean that the average Sergeant will receive over £200,000 less in pension receipts in his life time (assuming he lives to an age of 85), on the assumption that there is an average difference of just 1% between the RPI and CPI indexes. This year alone there is a difference of 1.5%!
There is never a better time to get to become more knowledgeable your pension scheme and, the changes that lie ahead, so you will be better prepared to take the correct administrative line – unlike many who buried their head in the sand when offered the chance to change to AFPS05 and elected to stay on the old pension scheme, who now find themselves several thousands of pounds out of pocket with no opportunity to change matters.
So, do yourself a favour and get ahead of the game. Joining the Forces Pension Society would be a good start. Members have access to deep pension expertise that is independent of the Ministry of Defence, so there is no ‘party line’ when it comes to responding to your enquiries, you’ll get a full response, ‘warts and all’. You can join via our website at https://www.forpen.co.uk , or the Society on 020 7820 9988.

I'm on the old pension scheme (75) and drawing it (luckily). Don't think the Forces are exempt from any of this (just google anything about AFPS 2015)

Andy_L

Buellguy wrote: »

Be careful there


I'm on the old pension scheme (75) and drawing it (luckily). Don't think the Forces are exempt from any of this (just google anything about AFPS 2015)

I think you've misread what I wrote/meant. I'm not saying that the police & military schemes (and I should have included fire brigade) schemes aren't changing like the rest its that ignoring them the rest of the public sector schemes (local gov, NHS, civil service, teachers etc) are much the same in how much the benefit are worth

dori2o

The_White_Horse wrote: »

public sector workers get bonuses,

Do we? I must find out how that works as I've never had a bonus in the 9 years I've worked there.

The_White_Horse wrote: »

not to mention flexi hours,

So you would rather I was paid for the extra hours I put in then rather than allowing me to stock up these extra hours I work and use them to have a day off, or come in late, or go home early, IF there is no business need for me to be in the office?

If however you mean Flexible Working Hours, Family Friendly, part Time Working, Term Time Working, I think you will find that a) In these cases you are only paid for the hours you work, and b) the vast majority of good employers recognise the need for flexibility over working hours due to childcare/care issues, ill health, etc.

The_White_Horse wrote: »

guaranteed pay rise as you go up the pay scale (so pay freeze actually means pay rise, unless you are top of the scale)

Actually progression was ceased, at least at HMRC, many years ago,

The_White_Horse wrote: »

huge holiday allowance

equivalent to many good employers 25 days plus Bank Hols

The_White_Horse wrote: »

AND higher salaries than in the private sector.

The equivalent salary to the work I do is approx £26500, plus Comapny Car, Medical Insurance and other associated benefits. I'm on £17,400.

The_White_Horse wrote: »

moaning public sector scumbags.

The only scumbag in here is you.

Buellguy

Andy_L wrote: »

I think you've misread what I wrote/meant. I'm not saying that the police & military schemes (and I should have included fire brigade) schemes aren't changing like the rest its that ignoring them the rest of the public sector schemes (local gov, NHS, civil service, teachers etc) are much the same in how much the benefit are worth

Fair point (oh and just to point out, I'm not 75, that's the pension scheme I'm on :rotfl::rotfl: )

Andy_L

dori2o wrote: »

The equivalent salary to the work I do is approx £26500, plus Comapny Car, Medical Insurance and other associated benefits. I'm on £17,400.

I'm curious, what do you do and why haven't you left for an extra 10k plus benefits?

chucknorris

The_White_Horse wrote: »

why? why not just pay them a net sum and be done with it. won't that save money - presumably hundreds of people are paid at hmrc to deal with this charade? sack them all and just pay public sector jobs 20% or 40% less.

Sounds good to me I am already way over the 40% tax band before my salary is considered. So I end up paying 40% on the lot (would be 50% on some of it if I wasn't buying extra pension to avoid the 50% band).