Civil service Alpha pension (leaving)

hugheskevi

michaels said:

Presumably it might also be relevant to those who would otherwise not have 2 years of service?  I wonder how soon the schemes will be announced?  Looks like a vol scheme announced three months before you turn 55 would be a winner...

Yes, two years would also be relevant, although, the payment would be negligible (a couple of months of salary).

The biggest win would be to get offered voluntary redundancy on your 50th birthday (and have started before April 2006), before any reformed scheme is introduced. The buy-out of 10 years of pension reduction produces the huge exit figures that sometimes get quoted in the media.

sammyjammy

german_keeper said:

sammyjammy said:

german_keeper said:

Currently you have a very secure job how about the new one?

Not necessarily. The wheels are in motion to reduce redundancy payments. When that is done the cull will follow.

I'll take a pretty educated guess that there will be less than 100 compulsory redundancy across the civil service!

I'll take a very educated guess at zero compulsory redundancies. As Ned says voluntary has to be offered before compulsory and the terms are better. I am now retired and financially comfortable (one of the lucky ones) and I am aware of several people who worked in clerical grades in Preston and travelled from East Lancs, maybe 20 or 30 miles away at minimum wage who managed to get work locally (for example Aldi and Lidl paying a quid an hour more) and resigned without a pay off. Chuck a few grand redundancy payment into the equation and the generous pension suddenly doesn't look so good. Especially if you don't really understand how good it is or if you are at an age where you aren't really thinking about your pension and you have a family to feed.

The race to the bottom is alive and kicking!!

I don't disagree, I was being generous, it was you that suggested it wasn't quite a secure job as i said it was.  Pretty much anyone that wants to stay will stay ergo secure job.

NedS

michaels said:

hugheskevi said:

german_keeper said:

I'll take a very educated guess at zero compulsory redundancies. As Ned says voluntary has to be offered before compulsory and the terms are better.

Compulsory redundancy is marginally better than Voluntary Redundancy for people with less than 12 years of service and who don't benefit from buy-out of actuarial reduction to pension. In this situation, Voluntary has 3 months of notice whilst Compulsory has 6. For someone simply wanting to stay as long as possible they may as well turn down Voluntary and move on to Compulsory, adding several months of employment prior to leaving. Granted that is a very niche population!

Presumably it might also be relevant to those who would otherwise not have 2 years of service?  I wonder how soon the schemes will be announced?  Looks like a vol scheme announced three months before you turn 55 would be a winner...

I will certainly be interested in taking any offer of voluntary redundancy in around 2 years, as that's about when I plan to go anyway.

I have a reasonable grasp of redundancy payments in terms of payment per years service, but what are pension payout rights and to whom do they apply? I can't see them letting me (or paying for me to) take my Alpha pension 10 years early without reduction.

michaels

hugheskevi said:

michaels said:

Presumably it might also be relevant to those who would otherwise not have 2 years of service?  I wonder how soon the schemes will be announced?  Looks like a vol scheme announced three months before you turn 55 would be a winner...

Yes, two years would also be relevant, although, the payment would be negligible (a couple of months of salary).

The biggest win would be to get offered voluntary redundancy on your 50th birthday (and have started before April 2006), before any reformed scheme is introduced. The buy-out of 10 years of pension reduction produces the huge exit figures that sometimes get quoted in the media.

What if you had made a transfer in - would the removal of the actuarial reduction not apply to this as well?

Separately how about EPA - would this be worthless if you went for vol and no actuarial reduction?

Suzycoll

michaels said:

hugheskevi said:

michaels said:

Presumably it might also be relevant to those who would otherwise not have 2 years of service?  I wonder how soon the schemes will be announced?  Looks like a vol scheme announced three months before you turn 55 would be a winner...

Yes, two years would also be relevant, although, the payment would be negligible (a couple of months of salary).

The biggest win would be to get offered voluntary redundancy on your 50th birthday (and have started before April 2006), before any reformed scheme is introduced. The buy-out of 10 years of pension reduction produces the huge exit figures that sometimes get quoted in the media.

What if you had made a transfer in - would the removal of the actuarial reduction not apply to this as well?

Separately how about EPA - would this be worthless if you went for vol and no actuarial reduction?

hi all, thank you for your contributions to my query. The upshot is you seem to be advising me to stay in CS in case of vol redundancy etc. Any ideas how likeley  this is  in the near future ? 

indiasign

“ hi all, thank you for your contributions to my query. The upshot is you seem to be advising me to stay in CS in case of vol redundancy etc. Any ideas how likeley  this is  in the near future ?”

Well, on the face of it, it would seem more likely to happen (if at all) in the next 2 years, as both of the Prime Ministerial candidates have let it be known that they intend (to a greater or lesser degree) to down size the CS.

But, firstly, what politicians say, and what they actually do, can often be wildly different

Secondly, it depends what part of the CS you are in.

For example, I work for an Executive Agency that has, for the last 6-9 years, been supposed to be reducing staff by about a third, following the development and introduction of a new IT system.

The reality? About a 25% increase in staff

hugheskevi

michaels said:

hugheskevi said:

michaels said:

Presumably it might also be relevant to those who would otherwise not have 2 years of service?  I wonder how soon the schemes will be announced?  Looks like a vol scheme announced three months before you turn 55 would be a winner...

Yes, two years would also be relevant, although, the payment would be negligible (a couple of months of salary).

The biggest win would be to get offered voluntary redundancy on your 50th birthday (and have started before April 2006), before any reformed scheme is introduced. The buy-out of 10 years of pension reduction produces the huge exit figures that sometimes get quoted in the media.

What if you had made a transfer in - would the removal of the actuarial reduction not apply to this as well?

Separately how about EPA - would this be worthless if you went for vol and no actuarial reduction?

Buy-out only refers to latest period of service and excludes transfers-in, added pension, etc.

EPA would not benefit you in the scenario early access is bought out by employer.

michaels

hugheskevi said:

michaels said:

hugheskevi said:

michaels said:

Presumably it might also be relevant to those who would otherwise not have 2 years of service?  I wonder how soon the schemes will be announced?  Looks like a vol scheme announced three months before you turn 55 would be a winner...

Yes, two years would also be relevant, although, the payment would be negligible (a couple of months of salary).

The biggest win would be to get offered voluntary redundancy on your 50th birthday (and have started before April 2006), before any reformed scheme is introduced. The buy-out of 10 years of pension reduction produces the huge exit figures that sometimes get quoted in the media.

What if you had made a transfer in - would the removal of the actuarial reduction not apply to this as well?

Separately how about EPA - would this be worthless if you went for vol and no actuarial reduction?

Buy-out only refers to latest period of service and excludes transfers-in, added pension, etc.

EPA would not benefit you in the scenario early access is bought out by employer.

Fair enough, it would have been ridiculous if it had included transfer in tbh.  Shame it doesn't include added and that you basically lose out on any money spent on EPA.