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Public Sector Scheme Not Such A Good Deal?

135

Comments

  • atush
    atush Posts: 18,731 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    "One person out of a hundred who should leave the pension"

    Really?

    That few people could gain from transferring?

    !

    Yes. Many people have a spouse, esp those ready to retire at scheme age.

    Many people might also (or w/o a spouse) have dependents under 23.

    finally most would not have a life limiting illness like you have.

    So taking that all into acct, very few people woudl do better out of the DB pension, esp at younger ages as they could live to over 90 and have all the investment risk.

    TBH, i would appeal and go to an IFA in case you want to transfer. aS the questions you ask mean that you really need actual advice.

    Were you in a union? I did ask but dont see that you answered.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,374 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Thanks atush.

    Yes I was a BECTU (BETA before that) member for nearly thirty years. Indeed I was an activist for most of that time, local rep (aka shop steward) and national H&S officer for some of that time.

    I have their permission to rejoin specifically for the purposes of enlisting their help in appealing against the decision, which is good of them. But a very experienced national officer (who happens to be a mate too) is very far from sanguine about the chances of success. ��
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 45,744 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Did you leave the BBC for another job before you became ill?

    Are you currently able to do any job (even if not sound engineering)?
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 45,744 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 1 August 2015 at 3:17PM
    Incapacity

    From BBC Pension Scheme web site:-

    "Incapacity means physical or mental impairment as a result of which, on the evidence of a doctor or other qualified person appointed by the BBC, the Trustees are satisfied:

    that you are incapable of carrying out your normal occupation; and
    it is likely to permanently and substantially impair your earning capacity."
  • atush
    atush Posts: 18,731 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    And he qualifies as a sound engineer with hearing impairment

    they pretty much turn down most cases first time as they have outsourced (the number of declines ups their fee I am sure).

    which is why you really ought to appeal. After all, you seem to have no one to leave the money to?
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 45,744 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    After all, you seem to have no one to leave the money to?

    It seems he has.

    I've started to think that tying myself in to £15k from half a million pound pot for a relatively short time, with no other options and nothing to bequeath to the kids, may not be in line with living-for-the-moment.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,374 Community Admin
    10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 1 August 2015 at 1:52PM
    Thanks People

    yes my tinnitus and loss of hearing make it pretty much impossible for me to work professionally as a sound engineer. For instance I would fail the hearing tests that are part of the initial application for my old job.

    I am not completely incapable of all work. I can still sit at a computer for a couple of hours. But any job would have to allow, and any employer would need to be prepared to accept, a lot of time off sick.

    In any case, mentioning my condition in the application seems (to me at least) to result in rejection at the application form stage. I have put in well over a hundred applications and rarely even get a reply, much less an invitation to attend interview.

    I have inadvertently "tested" this twice, by omitting to include any mention of my condition on the relevant section of the application.

    In one case I got a first interview and was told by the agency that I'd pretty much got the job and that the second "interview" was really only a chance for me to visit and check out the workplace. In arranging a time for that half-day visit, I had to mention a hospital appointment and thus describe the medical condition that I had omitted from my application. I wasn't called back (as had been promised) with a date and time for that visit, and when I called next day to enquire, I was informed that all the positions had been filled.

    In a second instance, I was told that I'd got the job. But mentioning that I needed to take medication onto the shop floor mysteriously coincided with the job offer being withdrawn, on the grounds that the person I was to be replacing had, with less than one week to go, cancelled a long-planned, one year's duration, round-the-world trip.
    This is a system account and does not represent a real person. To contact the Forum Team email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 45,744 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Given what you have said above, it is clear that working as a sound engineer is no longer feasible.

    It would also appear that your earning capacity is permanently and substantially impaired.

    There is a prima facie case for the granting of an early, unreduced pension on grounds of ill health?

    I suspect that if you were still working for the BBC as a sound engineer it would have been virtually impossible to refuse it?

    What were the grounds for refusal and why does your friend feel that an appeal will not succeed?
  • atush
    atush Posts: 18,731 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    xylophone wrote: »
    It seems he has.


    [/B]

    Then if he can't get early unreduced retirement I might go the transfer route as he has children to leave the money to.

    But he could end up living long enough to spend all the cash esp if he has to fund any care.
  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 45,744 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    But he could end up living long enough to spend all the cash esp if he has to fund any care.

    Indeed he could - I know a couple of creaking gates and believe me the cost of "oil and maintenance" is very substantial - deep gratitude for DB pensions now received for well over thirty years in each case.....
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