my pension has halfed .

[barryreacher]

why have we not kicked up about our pensions been nearly halfed . if you have your annual statements from august each year look back at them . we have been stitched up and nobody has said a word.

[Lounge Lizard]

Don't expect to live long enough in this job to draw a pension so hadn't noticed. You can't take it with you.

[RobertT]

why have we not kicked up about our pensions been nearly halfed . if you have your annual statements from august each year look back at them . we have been stitched up and nobody has said a word.

It's a fair point to say that the CWU should have taken more action in 2008 when the final salary pension was replaced by the career average version, perhaps in a similar way to how the teachers, nurses, etc have done this year. Although if i remember rightly they did get RM to keep the pre 2008 element linked to final salary when a person leaves the job, rather than salary earned in 2008.

Whenever a pension scheme changes, it's your entitlement going forward that alters and not what you've already built up, so in law we have no real come back on what RM have or may still do, other than a bit of bargaining power.

[rockytony67]

It's one of the biggest blots on this unions history that nothing was done in 2008 although we were told that we would have a vote on pensions at some date the way it's going I'll be retired before then

[chunk]

Now Cameron is in charge of the pension pot I have zero faith in the future of my pension.

[heapsy]

why have we not kicked up about our pensions been nearly halfed . if you have your annual statements from august each year look back at them . we have been stitched up and nobody has said a word.

It's a fair point to say that the CWU should have taken more action in 2008 when the final salary pension was replaced by the career average version, perhaps in a similar way to how the teachers, nurses, etc have done this year. Although if i remember rightly they did get RM to keep the pre 2008 element linked to final salary when a person leaves the job, rather than salary earned in 2008.

Whenever a pension scheme changes, it's your entitlement going forward that alters and not what you've already built up, so in law we have no real come back on what RM have or may still do, other than a bit of bargaining power.

Remember when Dave Ward said live on SKY "we are going to defend the final salary pension"? What a complete joker he turned out to be.

[vanman]

why have we not kicked up about our pensions been nearly halfed . if you have your annual statements from august each year look back at them . we have been stitched up and nobody has said a word.

It's a fair point to say that the CWU should have taken more action in 2008 when the final salary pension was replaced by the career average version, perhaps in a similar way to how the teachers, nurses, etc have done this year. Although if i remember rightly they did get RM to keep the pre 2008 element linked to final salary when a person leaves the job, rather than salary earned in 2008.

Whenever a pension scheme changes, it's your entitlement going forward that alters and not what you've already built up, so in law we have no real come back on what RM have or may still do, other than a bit of bargaining power.

Remember when Dave Ward said live on SKY "we are going to defend the final salary pension"? What a complete joker he turned out to be.

All pension service up to 2010 will still be paid on a Final Salary Basis at age 60.

Not quite the same deal the teachers face.

[RobertT]

All pension service up to 2010 will still be paid on a Final Salary Basis at age 60.

Not quite. All pension earned up to 2008 is paid on a final salary basis, plus 2008 - 2010 average salary pension will still be paid at 60 without reduction.

[vanman]

All pension service up to 2010 will still be paid on a Final Salary Basis at age 60.

Not quite. All pension earned up to 2008 is paid on a final salary basis, plus 2008 - 2010 average salary pension will still be paid at 60 without reduction.

Well spotted!!

Sorry.

[RobertT]

Well spotted!!

Sorry.

No problem. There's so many different variations of the RM pension scheme these days, starting from different dates and applying to certain posties and not others, it's a wonder anyone knows whether they're coming or going.

[NWpostie]

Final salary as at 2008 or when you retire at 60 in the future ? from the sound of it, it looks like you will be getting two lots of pensions from different sources.

[RobertT]

Final salary as at 2008 or when you retire at 60 in the future ? from the sound of it, it looks like you will be getting two lots of pensions from different sources.

The pension you built up before April 2008 is based on your final salary when you leave the job. After April 2008 it's based on average salary.

[milly]

I am thinking of transferring out of the pension scheme as I am greatly concerned that the goverment is already using it to offset debt to make goverment borrowing look better.
Something else that has always bothered me is that the amount of contributions we make compared to the benefits we recieve seem far too good to be true.
If I remember correctly my last statement said it would cost around £350000 to buy my pension privately,but I have only put in on average £19 per week for the last 22 years.
Also anybody who thinks the pension is safer now that it has been handed over to the UK goverment which has record debts and would be bankrupt if it were a private company is in cloud cuckoo land.

[RobertT]

I am thinking of transferring out of the pension scheme

That would probably be the worst financial decision you ever make. Where would you transfer to?

as I am greatly concerned that the goverment is already using it to offset debt to make goverment borrowing look better.

That is widely regarded as one of the reasons they took over the deficit, plus to make RM more attractive for privatisation.

Something else that has always bothered me is that the amount of contributions we make compared to the benefits we recieve seem far too good to be true.
If I remember correctly my last statement said it would cost around £350000 to buy my pension privately,but I have only put in on average £19 per week for the last 22 years.

That's why it's a good scheme to be in.

Also anybody who thinks the pension is safer now that it has been handed over to the UK goverment which has record debts and would be bankrupt if it were a private company is in cloud cuckoo land.

But RM were effectively bankrupt before the taxpayer took over the pension deficit aswell.
The pre April 2012 pension you have built up is now 'owned' by the government and will be paid out from the Exchequers £Billions rather than relying on RM being a profitable company for years to come, so in my opinion is greatly more secure.
The RMSPS (pre 2012 pension), had liabilities of around £35Billion with a deficit of about £8Billion which are huge amounts of money, but are still relatively piffling amounts when you consider the total amount of public sector pension liabilities (that's nurses, police, etc) is over £1,000 Billion.

The Royal Mail pension probably isn't the best pension in the world, but it's by no means the worst either. In my opinion and with respect, you'd be a fool to do anything other than keep your pension where it is.

[milly]

I will do more research and take financial advice before making my decision,but I do find it strange that anybody would have any faith in our goverment to honour their pension commitments to us when they have such huge debts.
I have already had two years state pension stolen from me as I will now get it at 67 rather than 65 if it still exists by then.

Something else that has always bothered me is that the amount of contributions we make compared to the benefits we recieve seem far too good to be true.
If I remember correctly my last statement said it would cost around £350000 to buy my pension privately,but I have only put in on average £19 per week for the last 22 years.

That's why it's a good scheme to be in.

Think about it for a moment,does it sound feasable that a scheme where thousands of people make relatively modest contributions to their pension pot and yet they get a huge amount back relative to their investment can keep paying out at the same level.
To me it just looks like a pyramid scheme.