Beware State Pension shock when partner dies

Malthusian

GunJack wrote: »

Which probably wouldn't have been such an issue if the previous govt. hadn't allowed companies to take payment holidays previously..

Not allowed, forced. Paying money into a pension scheme that by all actuarial calculations already had enough money was considered tax avoidance. And we can't have big companies avoiding their fair share of tax, now can we.

GunJack

Malthusian wrote: »

Not allowed, forced. Paying money into a pension scheme that by all actuarial calculations already had enough money was considered tax avoidance. And we can't have big companies avoiding their fair share of tax, now can we.

of course not, but considering Thatcher was all about prudence, how come she forced companies & pension schemes to be non-prudent??

capital0ne

Muscle750 wrote: »

Well known undisputed that Public sector pensions are on average worth five times more than the Private sector and its us idiots in the Private sector helping to pay for them.

You make your own choice Public or Private sector - no need to moan about it and you know what todo if you don't like the deal you've chose, just change - it's free country at the moment.:T

antonic

I am proud civil servant of many years, and according to my 2017 pension forecast I will get a whopping great gold plated pension of approx £7500 pa if I continue working to 2028 , when I complete 40 years.

What makes it even sweeter is that Muscles750 is paying towards it , with all of his hard work.

Thanks mate !

GunJack

antonic wrote: »

I am proud civil servant of many years, and according to my 2017 pension forecast I will get a whopping great gold plated pension of approx £7500 pa if I continue working to 2028 , when I complete 40 years.

What makes it even sweeter is that Muscles750 is paying towards it , with all of his hard work.

Thanks mate !

The first paragraph, great, with you.

The rest is as bad as muscle's views, there's no place for either his or your bias in a civilised society...

hyubh

antonic wrote: »

according to my 2017 pension forecast I will get a whopping great gold plated pension of approx £7500 pa if I continue working to 2028, when I complete 40 years.

You must be a part timer and fairly low paid then, otherwise your figures are wrong. When you joined, the scheme had a 1/80 pension + 3/80 lump sum final salary structure. You haven't given your age, but I'd guess you moved to Alpha immediately? In which case your accrual switched to 1/43.1 CARE in April 2015 (value of the pre-'15 service still be to determined given the final salary link). Your CARE pension alone will likely end up at around 20% your final salary.

antonic

Hi,

Nope,

I am full time but have never been promoted.

hyubh wrote: »

You must be a part timer and fairly low paid then, otherwise your figures are wrong. When you joined, the scheme had a 1/80 pension + 3/80 lump sum final salary structure. You haven't given your age, but I'd guess you moved to Alpha immediately? In which case your accrual switched to 1/43.1 CARE in April 2015 (value of the pre-'15 service still be to determined given the final salary link). Your CARE pension alone will likely end up at around 20% your final salary.

Silvertabby

antonic wrote: »

Hi,

Nope,

I am full time but have never been promoted.

Then you must be on minimum wage - in which case a pension of £7,500 isn't that bad a deal.

hyubh

antonic wrote: »

Nope,

I am full time but have never been promoted.

Confirm your current salary and age, together with whether you opted for Classic Plus when Premium came in for new members in 2002, and I will happily give a more accurate estimate of your pension after 40 years service than the spuriously low £7,500 pa figure.

hyubh

Silvertabby wrote: »

Then you must be on minimum wage - in which case a pension of £7,500 isn't that bad a deal.

The Civil Service scheme switched to 1/60ths accrual earlier than the LGPS, but without automatically moving existing members to it. So, let's assume the OP didn't elect to switch, so had 27 years at 1/80ths final salary (+3/80th lump sum) when the scheme changed to CARE.

When the Civil Service scheme switched to CARE accrual in 2015, older members either didn't move over at all, or only after a certain number of years. However, given antonic will reach 40 years service in a decade's time, he isn't old enough to 'benefit' from this, and so would have transferred to Alpha immediately (which is actually a better deal for the terminally low paid). So, add to the final salary service 13 years at 1/43.1 CARE (oh yes, the Civil Service CARE scheme is that generous). Assuming current minimum wage only, that's already north of nine grand pension in total after 40 years in today's money.