Need advice - flexible retirement

Malthusian · 20 January 2020 at 12:18PM

hyubh wrote: »

If this is the LGPS, then I'm curious as to whether your opinion would change depending on the status of the employer. Large council? Capita? Parish council? Local catering company? Citizens Advice Bureaux? Small quirky independant school? Local niche charity...? All might be participants in their local LGPS fund, falling under the same rules, and for the smallest, a mess up regarding an early retirement could cause serious money issues.

It wouldn't change my opinion either as a judge or a man on the Clapham omnibus. It's the employer's responsibility to get it right. How much it costs them is not the OP's problem. They could simply have said "no" to flexible retirement from the beginning, and while that would have been annoying for the OP, they could then investigate other options, and would not be in this position where they are now committed to new caring responsibilities and without the money they need for them.

If a mess up would cause serious money issues you should spend more time getting the right answer. It doesn't give you the right to make promises willy-nilly and then break the ones that cost you a lot.

If the OP can force the employer to follow through with the original agreement then in my opinion they should.

Silvertabby · 20 January 2020 at 1:19PM

This should never have happened. Flexi retirement has been around long enough for everyone to be aware of the rules when Rule of 85 protections are involved. Briefly:

Rule of 85 protections (almost solely in respect of pre 2008 benefits now) retained 60 as a minimum payment age when the scheme rules were changed to allow access from age 55. When a pension member meets R85 before 60, and retires under flexible retirement, the employer must cover the cost of (what would have been) the early retirement reduction from date of leaving to age 60. We are talking £Ks here, not just hundreds of pounds.

The first thing, if possible, would be to find the source of the error. I hate to say this, but it may not be HR - it could be a junior LGPS administrator who missed the R85 check. Unless things have changed, the software calc doesn't 'shout' that there are employer costs involved - the administrator would have to think R85 and check the 3rd (or was it 4th) page of the calculation for the employer strain costs.

OP - I see that you are member of a union and will be speaking to them today. Ask them to investigate further. Yes, you can submit a complaint - either to your HR or to the LGPS - but this will take time with no guarantee that you will get the answer you want.

I can't quote any precedence cases, because I can't think of any similar cases (although I bet there have been). The LA I worked for stressed to all employers that they must obtain pension quotes before even thinking of authorising flexible retirement, and LGPS quotes were then double checked by a more senior administrator.

The ultimate complaint would be to the Pensions Ombudsman - but even if they find in favour of the complainant, they very rarely instruct the pension fund to abide by the 'wrong' quote. The best they seem able to do is to award a bit of compo for the inconvenience/disappointment caused, which isn't what OP is after.

OP - please let us know what your union rep says. Good luck, but I fear that your only options would be to either retire completely (and take the pre 2008 reduction hit yourself) or carry on until 60, when there will be no employer costs.

xylophone · 20 January 2020 at 5:19PM

This should never have happened.

Thank you, Silvertabby. Mistakes happen but this one does really seem to be a gross error, given your comment

Flexi retirement has been around long enough for everyone to be aware of the rules when Rule of 85 protections are involved.

Need advice - flexible retirement

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