MyCSP - any way of escalating problems?

chubsta

kassy64 said:

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

If it’s any consolation I was in exactly the same boat as you are 2 years ago. I had 1982-2015 in Classic, came out for 1 month then rejoined Classic until 2017, then on to Alpha. The Classic parts of my pension took way longer than the Alpha part. Yes it’s worrying but mine came through eventually. I retired end of August 2022 and the Classic parts were paid mid to late September. You weren't in Home Office by any chance were you (BF)?

Yep, for my sins I was customs, Hmrc, border agency, border force, with a very similar pension to yourself - glad to hear you got yours in the end 

Yep same here. Where did you work during your career? Ports or airports?

Port, and to be honest, until the last few years I loved it but it has changed dramatically post Covid and by the end I hated it, what about you?

kassy64

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

If it’s any consolation I was in exactly the same boat as you are 2 years ago. I had 1982-2015 in Classic, came out for 1 month then rejoined Classic until 2017, then on to Alpha. The Classic parts of my pension took way longer than the Alpha part. Yes it’s worrying but mine came through eventually. I retired end of August 2022 and the Classic parts were paid mid to late September. You weren't in Home Office by any chance were you (BF)?

Yep, for my sins I was customs, Hmrc, border agency, border force, with a very similar pension to yourself - glad to hear you got yours in the end 

Yep same here. Where did you work during your career? Ports or airports?

Port, and to be honest, until the last few years I loved it but it has changed dramatically post Covid and by the end I hated it, what about you?

Started out in Dover back in the early 80’s, promotion took me to airports where I remained until retirement. Had some great years and worked with some amazing colleagues. As I got older shift work took its toll and the work priorities changed. Couldn’t wait to leave in the end, been gone nearly 2 years and it’s flown by. 

chubsta

xylophone said:

In view of your health problems, it would be as well for the moment to avoid the stress of yet more phone calls?

Leave it for another couple of weeks before contacting them again?

I think this is what I am going to have to do - just try to ignore it all and hope it gets sorted out as phoning them seems to have no impact whatsoever.

xylophone

just try to ignore it all and hope it gets sorted out

I think that it will get sorted out but it is very clear that you are upset by the situation, the more so because (I get the impression)  you  are a planner to the last detail.

It must be very annoying and frustrating when you gave the Administrator six months notice and were given reason to suppose that your payments would be made promptly.

However, they are not yet very late and you do have the wherewithal to cope for two or three months.

Add to that, unless the water's pouring in and the wires are sparking, the repairs will wait and the holiday can be booked in fairly short order presumably.

The point is that you don't want to stress yourself into another heart attack - neither money nor the sands of Bali are any use to one six feet under!

chubsta

xylophone said:

just try to ignore it all and hope it gets sorted out

I think that it will get sorted out but it is very clear that you are upset by the situation, the more so because (I get the impression)  you  are a planner to the last detail.

It must be very annoying and frustrating when you gave the Administrator six months notice and were given reason to suppose that your payments would be made promptly.

However, they are not yet very late and you do have the wherewithal to cope for two or three months.

Add to that, unless the water's pouring in and the wires are sparking, the repairs will wait and the holiday can be booked in fairly short order presumably.

The point is that you don't want to stress yourself into another heart attack - neither money nor the sands of Bali are any use to one six feet under!

Yeah, I feel much better this morning, things had been getting on top of me - there have been a number of issues also going on which meant this was really the 'icing on the cake'.

The holiday is booked, it just needs the final payment in a few weeks, which I do have covered now, so I will survive.

I think what was really winding me up was not knowing where the issue lies - I cannot think of any reason why the payments are delayed - the Alpha part of the pension required McCloud decisions, conversion for a lump sum, up to date info from work about earnings etc etc, but that has been paid on time. The Deferred Classic involves multiplying its deferment value by the CPI since 2015 and then applying an actuarial reduction, an extremely simple calculation which I had already done and which matched the quote I accepted. And no-one seems willing or able to tell me where the problem lies. If they said 'the problem is xxxx, it will be paid at the end of June' I would be annoyed but know where I stand, instead of 'it is being worked on and we aim to pay you by 5th May, 12 May, 19th May, 30th May' but never getting any of it.

Still, unfortunately it is all out of my hands and I have access to no information whatsoever so for a short while I will just see what happens - one thing I have learned in life is that there are some things that no matter how annoying or unfair it all seems, you genuinely can have no impact on how it is resolved - sh*t happens. I have just got off the phone with Octopus energy about a totally unrelated query and the phone was answered in seconds, I was on the phone for a total of 8 minutes and everything was completely sorted out. When I phone MyCSP I think it takes more than 8 minutes just to get to the point of sitting in a queue after listening to loads of prerecorded messages, although I will say their phone operatives seem a decent bunch and I have no issue with them, in fact I think they have been genuinely helpful, they are just let down by the systems they have to work with...

Anyway, thanks for all the good advice and replies, hopefully at some point I will be able to provide a positive update but if any prospective retirees from the Civil Service come across this thread when researching their own retirement, good luck!

chubsta

kassy64 said:

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

If it’s any consolation I was in exactly the same boat as you are 2 years ago. I had 1982-2015 in Classic, came out for 1 month then rejoined Classic until 2017, then on to Alpha. The Classic parts of my pension took way longer than the Alpha part. Yes it’s worrying but mine came through eventually. I retired end of August 2022 and the Classic parts were paid mid to late September. You weren't in Home Office by any chance were you (BF)?

Yep, for my sins I was customs, Hmrc, border agency, border force, with a very similar pension to yourself - glad to hear you got yours in the end 

Yep same here. Where did you work during your career? Ports or airports?

Port, and to be honest, until the last few years I loved it but it has changed dramatically post Covid and by the end I hated it, what about you?

Started out in Dover back in the early 80’s, promotion took me to airports where I remained until retirement. Had some great years and worked with some amazing colleagues. As I got older shift work took its toll and the work priorities changed. Couldn’t wait to leave in the end, been gone nearly 2 years and it’s flown by. 

The Civil Service, particularly BF gets a terrible rep but the majority of people I have worked with were incredibly committed to their jobs, going in in the middle of the night if a good target was coming in, 24 hr shifts when dealing with an S&S, most of the people my age are physically wrecked from searching lorries all day - correct manual handling when you are in a fridge with an 18 inch gap to the roof and you have to dig down to the bottom of the pallets shifting 25 kg sacks is totally impossible, but we all did it. And as a result many of my peers are no longer with us unfortunately.

I feel very lucky to be leaving now, and feel sorry for those left behind - particularly the very young ones, many of whom are extremely keen and talented, but who will have all the hassle of the modern job but none of the memories of the 80s, 90s, early 2000s when it was truly a dream job.

xylophone

Yeah, I feel much better this morning, 

That's good to hear.  I think that it would be perfectly reasonable to contact the Administrator again around 12/13 June.

Let's hope there won't be another debacle when the transfer back to Capita takes place next year! https://www.capita.com/news/capita-selected-administer-civil-service-pension-scheme#:~:text=Capita plc ('Capita'),pension schemes in the UK.


https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Investigation-into-members-experience-of-civil-service-pension-administration.pdf

kassy64

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

chubsta said:

kassy64 said:

If it’s any consolation I was in exactly the same boat as you are 2 years ago. I had 1982-2015 in Classic, came out for 1 month then rejoined Classic until 2017, then on to Alpha. The Classic parts of my pension took way longer than the Alpha part. Yes it’s worrying but mine came through eventually. I retired end of August 2022 and the Classic parts were paid mid to late September. You weren't in Home Office by any chance were you (BF)?

Yep, for my sins I was customs, Hmrc, border agency, border force, with a very similar pension to yourself - glad to hear you got yours in the end 

Yep same here. Where did you work during your career? Ports or airports?

Port, and to be honest, until the last few years I loved it but it has changed dramatically post Covid and by the end I hated it, what about you?

Started out in Dover back in the early 80’s, promotion took me to airports where I remained until retirement. Had some great years and worked with some amazing colleagues. As I got older shift work took its toll and the work priorities changed. Couldn’t wait to leave in the end, been gone nearly 2 years and it’s flown by. 

The Civil Service, particularly BF gets a terrible rep but the majority of people I have worked with were incredibly committed to their jobs, going in in the middle of the night if a good target was coming in, 24 hr shifts when dealing with an S&S, most of the people my age are physically wrecked from searching lorries all day - correct manual handling when you are in a fridge with an 18 inch gap to the roof and you have to dig down to the bottom of the pallets shifting 25 kg sacks is totally impossible, but we all did it. And as a result many of my peers are no longer with us unfortunately.

I feel very lucky to be leaving now, and feel sorry for those left behind - particularly the very young ones, many of whom are extremely keen and talented, but who will have all the hassle of the modern job but none of the memories of the 80s, 90s, early 2000s when it was truly a dream job.

Yep, 24 hour shifts were a regular occurence in the 90's and early 00's. Sitting in a Police station awaiting charging at 5am after starting at 6am the previous day. Try not to worry too much hopefully you will find your banking notifications coming through soon and you will wonder why you worried so much. I do think the McLoud judgement must be having a major impact on staffing levels at MyCSP, dealing with pensions and retirements. I suspect a lot of staff have been moved to deal with Mcloud and other areas of work are suffering, that's how it usually goes unfortunately. I have all the McLoud ruling decisions to make next year and keeping everything crossed that they don't make any !!!!!!-ups with that.

chubsta

Got my Classic lump sum and im guessing monthly pension payment today - never did receive any replies back to my attempts to contact them via their online systems beyond an initial acknowledgement despite me sending numerous requests for information.

Still, hopefully will be able to put it all behind me now, thanks for the advice everyone!

kassy64

chubsta said:

Got my Classic lump sum and im guessing monthly pension payment today - never did receive any replies back to my attempts to contact them via their online systems beyond an initial acknowledgement despite me sending numerous requests for information.

Still, hopefully will be able to put it all behind me now, thanks for the advice everyone!

Good to hear !!!