Company pension

superflygal

Furthermore, as a member of RMT, is it worth requesting my Reps petition against this change? They are PROTECTED and unaffected, so not incentivised to lend assistance wholeheartedly. Furthermore these people authorise our leave and have been good to me in the past, so I only want to challenge them if it could negotiate the pension situation, as I may burn bridges!

Sfg x

jamesd

One potential option might be to offer employees the option of keeping the existing benefits by replacing the contracted out part and matching employee contribution to it. The employee contributions would increase by a few percent but that may well be seen by some employees as a good deal.

kidmugsy

My eye was caught by:

superflygal wrote: »

For all members, we're proposing to introduce a "salary cap" of inflation plus 0.25% (based on the retail prices index measure of inflation)

Does it divorce the eventual pension from true final salary, and instead link it to (at most) current salary plus RPI inflation + 0.25% p.a.? Is that what it means?

If so, it's bad news for anyone who hopes to get substantial pay rises before retirement.

superflygal

Do you think it worth requesting the RMT act on my behalf to request these points?

ie: The salary cap question posted by Kidmugsy

and

One potential option might be to offer employees the option of keeping the existing benefits by replacing the contracted out part and matching employee contribution to it. The employee contributions would increase by a few percent but that may well be seen by some employees as a good deal.

Thanks!

Sfg x

kidmugsy

superflygal wrote: »

Do you think it worth requesting the RMT act on my behalf to request these points?

No harm in trying I suppose. My own experience of my trade union and pensions was dismal.

greenglide

If so, it's bad news for anyone who hopes to get substantial pay rises before retirement.

Are the changes not just for further service and the rest stays the same? Lots of schemes do this, including mine. Not wonderful but not the end of the world.

Ask the union to propose that better benefits can by funded by a sliding scale of contributions? I have the option of 3 contribution rates for 3 rates of accrual.

kidmugsy

greenglide wrote: »

Are the changes not just for further service and the rest stays the same?

Well, if it's the future contributions that might relate to pay rises, it remains disappointing.

And your remark provokes a further though: will the existing deal for existing contributions remain attached to true final salary? I remember being rather shocked to learn that when some schemes have swapped to a new form, the deemed final salary for the old rights was suddenly not true final salary at all, but salary at the instant of the scheme reform. I was disappointed to learn that that was legal.

xylophone

From "Unite" - may be of interest to the OP

http://www.unitetheunion.org/uploaded/documents/RPS%20Pension%20Changes%20201511-24247.pdf

kidmugsy

xylophone wrote: »

From "Unite" - may be of interest to the OP

(i) It does say that the treatment of promotional pay rises won't change.

(ii) It reveals that Network Rail has a salary sacrifice scheme: the OP would be wise to learn about that pronto, if not already using it.

greenglide

I remember being rather shocked to learn that when some schemes have swapped to a new form, the deemed final salary for the old rights was suddenly not true final salary at all, but salary at the instant of the scheme reform. I was disappointed to learn that that was legal

our scheme has been through a couple of changes over the last ten years or so and we now have a "pension salary" and a "new pensionable salary". One is calculated the old way and the other the new way. Both are final salary, both accrue their own years and are added together. They could do that?