Pension Retirement Option Letter

[RobertT]

One thing that has always quizzed me..... If the Final salary scheme closed in 2008, why did we get an extra 2 years?
Was the new average salary scheme still NRA60 until 2010?

The original plan was actually to increase the NRA to 62 in 2008 at the same time as closing the final salary scheme and replacing it with the average salary version. Then increase it again to 65 for benefits accrued from 2012 onwards.

But following a consultation, it was decided to include the first two years of average salary(2008-2010) with Age60 benefits and increase the NRA to 65 from 2010 instead.

I can never understand, nor forgive thr CWU for agreeing to a retirement age 65 or beyond. Complete disgrace. I would gave even accepted a DC scheme, uf we could have kept to 60, or at a stretch, 62. They don't do the job, so they've no idea how hard it is.

Did the union have any say over it?

Ultimately, no they didn't!

Whenever there's major changes to a pension scheme such as closure or an increase in NRA, legally there has to be a 60 day consultation period, where interested parties can air their concerns or offer alternatives. Unions could even ballot for strike action.

But at the end of the day, it's the sponsoring employer who makes the decisions, and there's nothing to say they have to take any notice of anyone else.

[heapsy]

If you read the previous post, it sounds like there was some discussion. But it seems that it was dismissed.

[Jefferson Starfish]

One thing that has always quizzed me..... If the Final salary scheme closed in 2008, why did we get an extra 2 years?
Was the new average salary scheme still NRA60 until 2010?

The original plan was actually to increase the NRA to 62 in 2008 at the same time as closing the final salary scheme and replacing it with the average salary version. Then increase it again to 65 for benefits accrued from 2012 onwards.

But following a consultation, it was decided to include the first two years of average salary(2008-2010) with Age60 benefits and increase the NRA to 65 from 2010 instead.

I can never understand, nor forgive thr CWU for agreeing to a retirement age 65 or beyond. Complete disgrace. I would gave even accepted a DC scheme, uf we could have kept to 60, or at a stretch, 62. They don't do the job, so they've no idea how hard it is.

Did the union have any say over it?

Ultimately, no they didn't!

Whenever there's major changes to a pension scheme such as closure or an increase in NRA, legally there has to be a 60 day consultation period, where interested parties can air their concerns or offer alternatives. Unions could even ballot for strike action.

But at the end of the day, it's the sponsoring employer who makes the decisions, and there's nothing to say they have to take any notice of anyone else.

Thanks Rob, that's what I thought but wasn't sure.

[Winseer]

The documentation I received is missing the section A where I get an option to tick to take my NRA60 stuff @ 60.

I'm not interested in chasing up the £6 a week bit until I've nailed down the main body of the pension, which I absolutely MUST have in place, and being paid out before I take the plunge, and hang up my keys for the last time.

It is also complicated by my moving house between now and my being age 60.
If I don't get this right, the future owner of my current abode - may have loads of forms to action sent to them, rather than myself - hence my need to trigger everything I need to do set the pension payments up, in place and running smoothly BEFORE I move out later this year.

I've phoned the numbers given here by other users, with one of them saying "We'll get another pack out to you" - but that was a week ago, and nothing is happening as of yet.

I'm worried sick that I might somehow lose my pension at the 11th hour due to some "paperwork complications" which I struggle with normally, due to dyslexia.

I worked over two decades @ RM with most of that being under the old scheme, and only a small part (probably the £6per week part) seems available at present to take.
I hope I've not misunderstood the entire thing, and mistaken by 60 pension with the one I can't get to take @ age 67?

I don't want to be paying for "financial advice" when this should all be smooth, and easy-to-understand and all.

I worked most of my years
Driving HGV
Working Lates and Night shifts
Working plenty of Saturdays and Sundays.

I was led to expect a pension around £315 per annum from the letter I received Easter 2024.
I know Easter is late this year, but perhaps things will become clearer IF I receive a similar "financial year-end statement" THIS year.

All I want to do - is claim the amount I thought I understood I had to come.
That's it.
A steady income of £315 will permit me to retire.
Much less than that - and I'll have to work until age 67-70, which I'd really rather not.

[RobertT]

Firstly I'd ignore the last few posts on this thread, as with most threads on here it's gone off topic a bit and they don't really apply to your situation.

From your previous posts, it sounds as if the £300 odd per year is from the RMPP and the £300 odd per week is the RMSPS.
And you have just Age60 benefits and no Age65 benefits.
Is that right?

You have to take all your Age60 benefits(from both RMPP&RMSPS) at the same time and what happens is when you send back your RMPP forms, they then tell the RMSPS to send you their forms.
You can't have one without the other. So not chasing up your £300 per year from the RMPP won't mean you'll lose your pension, but it may mean the whole process takes longer.

The same applies to any Age65 benefits you may have.

I would hazard a guess the one that said 'we'll send out another pack', is RMSPS(administered by Capita?)They are well known to be inefficient – if you use the search function on here you may be able to find a few threads concerning them.

RM pensions are a pain in the butt to navigate sometimes, due to various changes made over the years.
Stick with it, do things in the right order and you'll be fine.

[Winseer]

I've now received (after three requests) my 60 and 65 options letters.

I'm wishing to pick the one with the lump sum with it for age 60.
Is this instead of, or "in addition to" the 65 benefits letter's contents?


It seems that first time around I received the same letter but with the NR60 benefits page missing.

I was going to tick the lump sum option on the lesser pension as well, but not if it's "instead of" the NR60 option.

Do I fill in both, or just the NR60 one then?

The flow chart, as other users here have suggested - isn't exactly clear......

Also, there's no SAE enclosed.
Where do these filled-out forms get sent back to?
Is there an acknowledgement that they were received?

Since this is my third attempt just to get the correct options letter, I'm now rather paranoid that more things will get in the way of claiming the start of my old RM pension along with the lump sum in time for my intended NR60 retirement later this year....

What sort of timeframe after sending these forms back - can I expect a resonse, and can I expect payments to commence?

Many thanks.