New Scottish widows login

[fatcat1uk]

I have been trying to log in to the new Scottish widows site ,with details they sent me and keep coming across ,no contract recognised ..has anyone else been experiencing issues ?

[yellowbelly]

Got into the AVC site ok (that's the letter I received a login and temp password for).

Not sure how/when we're supposed to be able to login to the main part of the pension.

With the RMDCP I could see my main part of the pension and the AVC investments under the one login.
The letter I received specifically states this login is for the AVC part of the collective plan.

[TopperGas]

Got into the AVC site ok (that's the letter I received a login and temp password for).

Not sure how/when we're supposed to be able to login to the main part of the pension.

With the RMDCP I could see my main part of the pension and the AVC investments under the one login.
The letter I received specifically states this login is for the AVC part of the collective plan.

There's no indications in the documentation that we can view the main part of the new pension, it seems odd we can't see that payments are being made into our pensions nor how it is performing until we receive the annual statements, unless I'm missing something? The Lump Sum Booster has hardly been publicised by RM or the CWU, although a 1% boost hardly seems worthwhile anyway.

[RobertT]

There's no indications in the documentation that we can view the main part of the new pension, it seems odd we can't see that payments are being made into our pensions nor how it is performing until we receive the annual statements, unless I'm missing something?

They could show you how much is going into the pension, but the amount you're accruing is only really a theoretical amount until each yearly valuation takes place, when it could go up or down.
The lump sum probably lends itself more to online access, but again any growth is only added annually.

The Lump Sum Booster has hardly been publicised by RM or the CWU, although a 1% boost hardly seems worthwhile anyway.

There was an LTB a few weeks back saying 20,000 had signed up to the booster.

Based just on contributions, the 2% total booster payment(1% employee/1% RM) actually equates to an increase in your lump sum of over 50%. It's well worth doing!

[yellowbelly]

Got into the AVC site ok (that's the letter I received a login and temp password for).

Not sure how/when we're supposed to be able to login to the main part of the pension.

With the RMDCP I could see my main part of the pension and the AVC investments under the one login.
The letter I received specifically states this login is for the AVC part of the collective plan.

There's no indications in the documentation that we can view the main part of the new pension, it seems odd we can't see that payments are being made into our pensions nor how it is performing until we receive the annual statements, unless I'm missing something? The Lump Sum Booster has hardly been publicised by RM or the CWU, although a 1% boost hardly seems worthwhile anyway.

I seem to have found something! After looking through all the websites that were created, this one:

https://rmcollectiveplan.com/documents-forms

has a link to a document under 'Other helpful documents' that is entitled 'A guide to your collective plan member self service account',
which is this link: https://rm-pensions.s3.eu-west-2.amazon ... ccount.pdf

What information we'll see is detailed in the document, but apparently we should be sent another card with login
and a Personal Identification Code (page 4).

[Hyrrokkin]

SW AVC RMCPP
Received the 1st letter with username but still waiting on 2nd letter with temporary password - frustrating.

[fatcat1uk]

I have managed to login ,but only after contacting S,W for help.
Does any one know where I can find the information on S,W charges for administration of this AVC ?
Thanks .

[RobertT]

Does any one know where I can find the information on S,W charges for administration of this AVC ?
Thanks .

Look at the fund factsheets here:

https://digital.feprecisionplus.com/cor ... ory=4rmc23

The SW RMCPP AVC site is here:

https://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/save/r ... anavc.html

[Dexydog]

Trying to find out what happens if you leave before 12 months of paying into avc's(I will be).
Read through all the documents including the ones just posted, and all I can see is an ambiguous statement of "it depends how long youve paid in for"- its less than 12 months, how hard can it be?!, and to refer to page 54 of the collective plan handbook.
Why not just state the facts at that point??
I have umpteen files downloaded and it's really difficult to tell one from another let alone read all the print on a smartphone.
Anyone any idea on this?- if I can't get at it it's not worth paying into.
Really fed up of the ambiguity of if all, as well as relying on the good people here.
It's really not good enough imo.

[yellowbelly]

Trying to find out what happens if you leave before 12 months of paying into avc's(I will be).
Read through all the documents including the ones just posted, and all I can see is an ambiguous statement of "it depends how long youve paid in for"- its less than 12 months, how hard can it be?!, and to refer to page 54 of the collective plan handbook.
Why not just state the facts at that point??
I have umpteen files downloaded and it's really difficult to tell one from another let alone read all the print on a smartphone.
Anyone any idea on this?- if I can't get at it it's not worth paying into.
Really fed up of the ambiguity of if all, as well as relying on the good people here.
It's really not good enough imo.

It's a bit of a loop isn't it but I think this is the info you're looking for:

If you were working for Royal Mail on 7 October 2024

You’ll become a ‘deferred’ member of the Collective Plan.
You can’t have a refund of your payments, or Royal Mail’s,
but you’ll have other options instead.
You can:
• leave your income for life and lump sum in the
Collective Plan until you decide to get them or
transfer out
• get your income for life and lump sum if you’re over
55 (or 57 from 2028) although you might be able to
get these benefits earlier if you are in ill-health
(see page 58 - 59)
• transfer your value out – see the next section
“transferring out of the Collective Plan” on page 50
for more information

Then looking at p50:

If you leave the Collective Plan before you get your
income for life and lump sum, you could choose to
transfer out what you’ve built up in the Collective Plan,
including any lump sum booster or Additional Voluntary
Contributions (AVCs) you’ve made[/quote]

[Dexydog]

Thanks.
But it's still very, very ambiguous.
I mean, what on God's earth does the following mean...
"• leave your income for life and lump sum in the
Collective Plan until you decide to get them or
transfer out".
"Get them".
Get them, how??!
Page 50 is not page 54.
None of any of it gives a definitive answer.
Has any of this even passed any form of regulatory scrutiny?
You can maybe do this, or that, possibly, perhaps, but only if this that or the other.

[RobertT]

Thanks.
But it's still very, very ambiguous.
I mean, what on God's earth does the following mean...
"• leave your income for life and lump sum in the
Collective Plan until you decide to get them or
transfer out".
"Get them".
Get them, how??!
Page 50 is not page 54.
None of any of it gives a definitive answer.

There's different options depending on how long you're a member of the scheme.

If memory serves me correctly you plan to leave RM around April next year, therefore you'll be in the RMCPP for about 6 months and the 3-12 month membership options are available to you.

So you can either have a refund of your contributions or transfer out to a personal pension.
See page 48 of the collective plan handbook for details of that and the options for less than 3 months or over 12 months membership.

'Get them' means take your income for life and lump sum benefits (plus AVC's if applicable) at 67, or earlier with a reduction.
'Transfer out' means you get a cash valuation of your share of the overall pot and move it to a personal pension.

Has any of this even passed any form of regulatory scrutiny?
You can maybe do this, or that, possibly, perhaps, but only if this that or the other.

It's taken around 7 years from inception to implementation for the RMCPP to start. A lot of that time has been taken up putting the regulations and legislation in place for it to happen. That specifically applied to the pension element, as it's a completely new concept in the UK.

The reason there's the option to transfer out aswell as to take your pension and lump sum at 67(or earlier), is because the scheme comes under pension flexibility rules introduced in 2015. Meaning if you would rather use your accrued benefits for drawdown or annuity, you can take a transfer value and move your money to a personal pension instead.

[Dexydog]

Perhaps I wasn't clear.
I understand the options and what certain terminology is.
The issue I have is a lot of the information given just sends you round in circles.
A link above which I opened, in relation to taking accrued funds after less than 12 months service, specifically mentions page 54.
I can't find this page.
There's links all over the place, none of which has been supplied directly to us by RM or SW.
Why not?
The whole thing just seems overly complicated and isn't at all clear to a layperson.
My point is everything should be clear, easy to find and navigate.
It most certainly isn't.
I even rang and the information given was as clear as mud.
I had a pensions advice appointment last week, and even they weren't sure of when things are payable and readily available to take, nor if the RM contribution would be honoured if leaving earlier than expected.
Everything is vague.
All I want to know is, when I leave after 6 months, will everything ive paid in be available for me to take as a cash payment.
This to include the RMCPP and also the AVC's as well as everything contributed by RM.
I don't want to be messing around transferring small pots into something I might not go down the route of.
Thanks for the time given, and I really don't want to seem ungrateful in any way, but I'm extremely distrustful of RM and I really don't believe any of this new pension is in our interests.
The bottom line for them is "will it save us money".
It will I'm sure, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to all the trouble.
To me, that's says there's only one person that will be worse off.
It seems to me, reading between the lines, to be set up to negate any financial exposure to anyone other than the people paying into it- self funding might be too simplistic but it's as near an explanation as I can muster.
I just think it's all deliberately obscure to hide any pitfalls.
I suppose I'm erring towards just not bothering with at all, given the short timescale.
If I could be certain of being able to take everything put in easily then I might just as well stay in
It really shouldn't be this confusing.

[RobertT]

Perhaps I wasn't clear.
I understand the options and what certain terminology is.
The issue I have is a lot of the information given just sends you round in circles.
A link above which I opened, in relation to taking accrued funds after less than 12 months service, specifically mentions page 54.
I can't find this page.

Try the Collective Plan Handbook – link to be found in the documents section, and other pages, of the RMCPP website.

There's links all over the place, none of which has been supplied directly to us by RM or SW.
Why not?

Ever seen this - https://www.myroyalmail.com/collective-plan

It's been in existence in various forms for a few years now. I've linked to it many times on here and is included on the pensions website stickie.

The whole thing just seems overly complicated and isn't at all clear to a layperson.
My point is everything should be clear, easy to find and navigate.
It most certainly isn't.

I don't think it's the best website I've ever seen, and there are various options which makes things hard to understand. But I would have thought a few reads and it becomes fairly straightforward for most people.

All I want to know is, when I leave after 6 months, will everything ive paid in be available for me to take as a cash payment.
This to include the RMCPP and also the AVC's as well as everything contributed by RM.
I don't want to be messing around transferring small pots into something I might not go down the route of.

I answered that in my previous post and told you where to find the info and I seem to remember somebody else doing that for you a few weeks ago too.
I don't mind helping people to better understand their pension options, but I'm not interested in holding anybodys hand!

Thanks for the time given, and I really don't want to seem ungrateful in any way, but I'm extremely distrustful of RM and I really don't believe any of this new pension is in our interests.
The bottom line for them is "will it save us money".
It will I'm sure, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to all the trouble.
To me, that's says there's only one person that will be worse off.
It seems to me, reading between the lines, to be set up to negate any financial exposure to anyone other than the people paying into it- self funding might be too simplistic but it's as near an explanation as I can muster.

Back at the end of 2016 RM originally announced they wanted to put everyone in the RMDCP with a max employer contribution of 6%. The result of months of negotiations was the 4 Pillars agreement which included this new pension scheme.
The RM actually pay more into the RMCPP than they did into the previous schemes on a per member basis, so is clearly not a money saving scheme for the company! The legal minimum they have to offer in pension contributions is 3%(plus 5% from employees).

I just think it's all deliberately obscure to hide any pitfalls.
I suppose I'm erring towards just not bothering with at all, given the short timescale.
If I could be certain of being able to take everything put in easily then I might just as well stay in
It really shouldn't be this confusing.

This scheme has been in the pipeline for around 7 years. The pluses and minuses have been discussed on this forum on and off for most of that time. There's lots of info to be found online concerning how CDC pensions work and the opinions of people within the pensions industry.
If you wanted to do your own homework in that time, you could have done.

The RMCPP website has been live for over 3 months and you've had all that time to read up on it and make your decisions and you wait until it's started to moan about it! Pointless!

[Dexydog]

Page 48 does tell me 3-12 months gives a refund via payroll. (and therefore no tax advantage either).
So there's no point in me paying anything as far as I can see.
Apologies I had that many downloads it was hard to see which one was which.