Is my wife the nuclear option???

DawlishDilbert

Background:

My wife and I were in the C/Service and TUPEd to private sector. A few years ago she took redundancy and her pension (CS rules apply under TUPE) was 'enhanced' to what it should be at 60.

Up until then our salary and time in CS were identical.

I am now taking redundancy but the upshot is that my wife's pension will be £2k more pa than mine.

She is not currently drawing her pension.

My quandary

I'm not really asking here about the details above, but rather, if I raise this with the company and ask for clarification might they be able to say 'sorry, we made a mistake with HER pension, YOURS is right, so we are going to reduce hers by £2k pa?" Can they do this? Would it be better if she was already drawing her pension? What would you do?

I feel that as our length of service and salaries matched, our expected pensions (given the redundancies) should sort-of be around the same. Or am I missing something?

Or could it be that MY pension is wrong and should be higher - to match hers?

Silvertabby

Mr S took redundancy under Civil Service TUPE terms when he was 58 - and his service was enhanced to 60.

zagfles

You've not said how old you are. You need to understand the rules and work out what the pensions should be, do you have a scheme booklet?

hugheskevi

A few years ago she took redundancy and her pension (CS rules apply under TUPE) was 'enhanced' to what it should be at 60.

How long is 'a few' and in particular was it before 22 December 2010?

Apodemus

Is it possible that her imputed final salary (and hence pension) has risen with inflation since she retired, whereas your real final salary has not kept pace?

DawlishDilbert

Sorry, I was probably waffling too much: I'm less concerned with how the figures were calculated (which is another whole topic) than with the simple concern that if I raise the subject of my wife's figure, they will then examine hers more closely and possibly find they made a mistake with hers and reduce it!

My inclination is to keep my mouth shut and just take what we have on offer rather than risk losing her 'extra'!

Silvertabby

If your wife's pension is correct, then £2K is a big difference. Have you checked that the pension fund have accounted for all of your service?

zagfles

DawlishDilbert wrote: »

Sorry, I was probably waffling too much: I'm less concerned with how the figures were calculated (which is another whole topic) than with the simple concern that if I raise the subject of my wife's figure, they will then examine hers more closely and possibly find they made a mistake with hers and reduce it!

My inclination is to keep my mouth shut and just take what we have on offer rather than risk losing her 'extra'!

That's why you need to work out the figures and check which is right or wrong so you know!

Manxman_in_exile

I'm not familiar with the CS pension scheme, but are you sure that the terms that currently apply to you are still the same that applied to your wife when she left the scheme?


I agree with other posters that you need to check that the pension quote or whatever you have for yourself is correct. You say that the way it is calculated is a whole other matter - but it isn't - it's at the heart of what you're asking. When I left the NHS I checked, double-checked and double-double-checked every figure I was given.


I would also double-check your wife's figures for peace of mind. A colleague of mine once got a pension quote which overstated their service by about eight years.

Kynthia

I know a bit about the civil service pension but need to be clear on some things.

You were both in the Classic scheme? Did either of you move to another scheme like Classic Plus, Premium or Alpha?

Your wife took early exit and is now receiving her pension? Was this below 60 years old?

If yes was she over 50 and did she use her lump sum to buy out the actuarial reduction in order to get the full pension she had built early? Or was she offered extra years of reckonable service?

Did you both have similar full time years of employment and similar salaries over the last 3 years of employment? Did either of you do lots of overtime in the last three years or get any allowances the other didn't get?

Do either of you have the final paperwork which lists your reckonable service and pensionable pay used in the calculations of your pension?

Did she give up any lump sum for extra annual pension or are you asking for more lump sum than the standard?

DawlishDilbert

Thanks for the replies but let me put it another way: We have identical employment histories and salaries. However her pension is now worth £2k more than mine. I do indeed want to understand why - but the simple act of asking for more info, of asking why, will draw to the pension departments notice that there's a difference and they COULD say 'hers is wrong - reduce it to match his'.

The actual calculations etc are not relevant to my question here - I'm just asking if I even dare mention it. At best, mine is wrong, hers is right and we are £2k better off. At worst, hers is wrong and mine is right and we are £2k better off. If I do nothing - no change from what we have now.

My inclination is just to keep quiet unless someone can tell me that they can't change my wife's pension in the case they have made a mistake with hers.