PENSION LETTER

[boo634]

Hi got a letter today about our pensions couldn't make head nor tale of it anyone else receive one. b

[Shambles]

Yes, I got one too...haven't a clue...I leave that to my legal team

[Shambles]

Royal Mail Pension Plan RMPP

Changes will only affect employee members of RMPP
If you have left employment or opted out of RMPP
or your NRA65 ? Benefits are already being paid,
Then your benefits won't be affected.

Then blah blah blah blah changes etc blah blah blah

[Pete22]

Basically the RM have said unless agreed changes are made to plan they cannot afford to keep it open to new entrant's and would close it. The trustees having taken independent advice have agreed to this which protects the plan to 2018, this is the new pension plan from April 2012 not the one that the Government took on the liabilities for.

[Shambles]

Thanks Pete saved me a fortune in legal fees

[Pete22]

Thanks Pete saved me a fortune in legal fees

Mines a pint of Guinness.

[Hitcher]

So part of the reason we're striking has been decided already?

[Pete22]

So part of the reason we're striking has been decided already?

There's plenty more they are trying to screw us on , remember they wanted us to increase our contributions even if we didn't receive a pay rise each year to keep the companies contribution down in line with the retail price index or inflation.

[Shambles]

Thanks Pete saved me a fortune in legal fees

Mines a pint of Guinness.

It's on the slate

[Brain Fury]

So part of the reason we're striking has been decided already?

There's plenty more they are trying to screw us on , remember they wanted us to increase our contributions even if we didn't receive a pay rise each year to keep the companies contribution down in line with the retail price index or inflation.

That's not right!

[LinChong]

You don't even need to understand English to know that if changes are proposed to the pensions it means we are going to get less and any of our kids who join in the future will be totally screwed. (Imagine a yellow smilie showing the finger).

[NWpostie]

Not mention the lost 13 years of pension holiday money Incompetence.

[dazzlin72]

If we had done the same thing as they had done with the pension fund we'd be in prison for embezelment! Thing is, while they took a holiday from paying ours, they still paid top execs golden egg payments. Somebody should be investigating where all that money went, & someone held accountable. This money should be made to be paid back, with interest acrrued. Why should we have to put right RMs' mistakes, & misdemeaners when we've already paid the contributions originally.
Seen as RM have agreed to keep open the pension plan with concessions for the next 5 yrs, i also believe the same will be the case ultimately with the new deal.

[Brain Fury]

If we had done the same thing as they had done with the pension fund we'd be in prison for embezelment! Thing is, while they took a holiday from paying ours, they still paid top execs golden egg payments. Somebody should be investigating where all that money went, & someone held accountable. This money should be made to be paid back, with interest acrrued. Why should we have to put right RMs' mistakes, & misdemeaners when we've already paid the contributions originally.
Seen as RM have agreed to keep open the pension plan with concessions for the next 5 yrs, i also believe the same will be the case ultimately with the new deal.

The only problem with this is that the pension holiday was the law. They weren't allowed to keep putting money into the pension fund because it was overfunded at the time. Of course there is nothing to say that it has to be the company that gets the pension holiday. It could have been the employees. Not that any organisation has ever done this as far as I am aware. Morally it is absolutely justified for the Government to take over our pension liabilities seeing as how they created the situation in the first place. But embezzlement or incompetence? Afraid not.

[fishtank]

The only problem with this is that the pension holiday was the law. They weren't allowed to keep putting money into the pension fund because it was overfunded at the time.

That's actually a myth.
There was no law that stopped a pension fund building up a surplus or forced a pension contribution holiday.What actually happened was in 1988 because the markets were flying Nigel Lawson decided to introduce a tax on company pension fund “surpluses” above 105%.

To avoid paying the tax employers including Royal Mail took pension contribution holidays and increased their early retirement packages.
The pension was free to continue to build up a surplus for a rainy day as long as they paid tax on it but given the huge gains pension funds were making from stocks all they could see was sunshine on the horizon and the business and government were quite happy to be posting profits that were not really profits but our employer pension contributions.