State Pension

saver861

molerat wrote: »

Why so ? ..............

Just a guess ... don't ya know ....

Still .... I could be wrong ... but whatever ... either way its all good.

molerat

xylophone wrote: »

Surely LGPS contacted all members prior to the change to advise them why they would be paying higher NI?

https://www.yourpensionservice.org.uk/news/?id=2015/08/21/79649&news=882&page=pr&_

And how many will have actually read it and of those that did how many actually bothered to understand what it was saying ?:o

saver861

molerat wrote: »

And how many will have actually read it and of those that did how many actually bothered to understand what it was saying ?:o

Not all but when there is a reduction in the pay check many do want to know why.

molerat

saver861 wrote: »

Not all but when there is a reduction in the pay check many do want to know why.

But if they had bothered to read and understand what was sent out they would have known

Kynthia

xylophone wrote: »

I suppose he could have gone through a few years with Royal Mail without knowing about contracting out or the meaning of a defined benefits pension but it seems unlikely.....

I used to work for a very large organisation which was part of the civil service pension scheme. 'Defined benefits' is not a term used particularly in any literature or on the organisation intranet so I'd be amazed if even as many as 5% of the employees knew tgat term. The figure would be much higher for 'final salary' and/or 'career average', plus other more commonly used terms like 'reckonable service'. Also I'd never heard of contracting out until this year and didn't even know I was paying reduced NI. Perhaps if I was older, or had been in other pensions schemes previously I would have known but again I expect the majority of staff would be unfamiliar with the term.

MyCSP only sent out letters regarding contracting out coming to an end in June this year and I wouldn't have thought that deferred members would receive it. So I expect the majority of deferred members still might be unfamiliar with the term and it's affects on their state pension.

greenglide

Surely it wouldnt be MyCsp who would send .letters out, it would be the employer as it is the employer, via its payroll system, who makes the deduction.

I got one but was employed in the private sector.

The scheme booklet, which all members would have had access to and which would be on there intranet, would clearly state that it was a contracted out scheme and would also state that it was a Final Salary or Career Average scheme. I would expect it to say that it is a Defined Benefit scheme as well.

Of course lots of people do not read these things and many refuse to understand it (or genuinely cannot understand it) - horses, water and drink comes to mind!

Silvertabby

“ Surely LGPS contacted all members prior to the change to advise them why they would be paying higher NI?

https://www.yourpensionservice.org.uk/news/?id=2015/08/21/79649&news=882&page=pr&_
Originally posted by xylophone

And how many will have actually read it and of those that did how many actually bothered to understand what it was saying ?:o
Posted by molerat

Of course they were told. They were also told that the scheme was changing from final salary to career average in April 2014 - but if if had a £1 for every ' whaddya mean the scheme is now career average?' comment over the following 2 years I'd be a very happy bunny. I pointed out to these people that the new scheme information had been sent to everyone - and the general response? 'Who reads that boring pensions rubbish?'

Kynthia

greenglide wrote: »

Surely it wouldnt be MyCsp who would send .letters out, it would be the employer as it is the employer, via its payroll system, who makes the deduction.

I got one but was employed in the private sector.

The scheme booklet, which all members would have had access to and which would be on there intranet, would clearly state that it was a contracted out scheme and would also state that it was a Final Salary or Career Average scheme. I would expect it to say that it is a Defined Benefit scheme as well.

Of course lots of people do not read these things and many refuse to understand it (or genuinely cannot understand it) - horses, water and drink comes to mind!

MyCSP sent a letter out as I said. The employer had put a notice o the intranet beforehand also. However I expect the majority of employees paid little attention to either or didn't really understand what it was telling them.

As I said 'Defined benefits' is not a term used in the ongoing literature or the annual statements so it's a term hardly any of the members will be familiar with. The fact it along with the phrase 'contracted out' might be mentioned in the scheme booklet doesn't mean people will know it as firstly how many read that booklet when they started, and secondly if they did read it that was when they started and for many that was 5/10/20/40 years ago and wouldn't remember? It's also not on the work intranet site but a seperate website, and the booklet as a whole is too large fir our work firewall.

So a deferred member who didn't know the term defined benefits and didn't understand the implications of contracting out would be the norm rather than a troll in my experience. I don't think you can overestimate how much tge majority of people don't pay attention to their pensions.

farquarpigmix

saver861 wrote: »

I thought some folk on here would recognise a wind up .... apparently not it seems.

You think am winding people up?

They said two weeks was unpaid leave before starting. Myself & others at the time received £150.00 I thought I was rich then in 1980

My documents in my little red book states "5 years 11 days service" So I will be phoning up when the MOD are back at work

norsefox

NI contributions are only a qualifier for a state pension. You have not actually 'paid' for it.

The State Pension is funded by current tax payers. Unlike other pensions, it is not a savings fund that is invested and an annuity bought when you retire.

The fact of the matter is, demographics have changed significantly since the introduction of the state pension. The cost to the tax payer (per individual tax payer) will significantly increase as more people retire and live longer.

It has been ignored by countless governments but is eventually going to bite us. Either the (then) working tax payers are going to have to pay more or retirees need to accept lower state pensions.