PENSIONS

[ronaldo]

When or if i reach the Grand old age of 60i would have done 40 years service.Do i still pay in to the pension as the maximum time is 40.If the answer is NO can i take the full amount and go.

[mailsort6]

When or if i reach the Grand old age of 60i would have done 40 years service.Do i still pay in to the pension as the maximum time is 40.If the answer is NO can i take the full amount and go.

If you are not 60 by the 1 April 2010 you could find yourself losing money from your pension but this depends when you are 60. Remember RM would like to enforce the new CARE pension scheme by 2008 which posties have to vote for. If you are not 60 by 2008 and if the new pension scheme is enforced you could find yourself losing money from your lump sum and your yearly pensionable pay if you do not stay on until 65 (you may feel that you want to cut your losses and take a reduced pension at 60 but this depends on each individual's circumstances). You should have received a booklet concerning the changes to the pension please read it then you will know where you stand.

[majeed]

I know that if I retire I get a pension from Royal Mail: how does this affect my state pension from the government? Also, if I leave Royal Mail before retiring, what happens then to (a) the money I have paid into the Royal Mail pension fund and again (b) my government state pension? Or should I perhaps have more children?

[Wild Cat]

When or if i reach the Grand old age of 60i would have done 40 years service.Do i still pay in to the pension as the maximum time is 40.If the answer is NO can i take the full amount and go.

According to the booklet I received in the post from RM when you reach 60 any service up until April 2008 will count towards a final salary lump sum.
So if you have done 39 years as at April 2008 and have 1 year to go until 60 the first 39 years will be based on your final salary and you will be able to draw this at 60.
The last year would be based on what you earn that year so you would not really be affected.

Basically if you have done a lot of service ie 20 years plus and only have a few years left you will not really be affected very much as most of your service will be based on your final salary which you can take at 60.
You will lose a few hundred from the lump sum and 2 or 3 hundred a year from your yearly pension.

If you have a significant amount of service still to do you will lose on average 1-2 thousand a year.

Also considering a lot of Senior Guys go on nights in their lat year at the moment and you will no longer benefit from doing this this will mean potentially losing an additional 1 thousand plus a year on top of that I have already mentioned.

THE NET RESULT IS LESS SENIOR GUYS WILL BE 2 - 3 THOUSAND WORSE OFF A YEAR.

[dean41]

When and if this CARE shite comes in, can you refuse to pay into it and put your money into a private pension.

[Carnoustie]

When and if this CARE shite comes in, can you refuse to pay into it and put your money into a private pension.

Probably, but I would advise you not to do this. Private schemes are less attractive because there are only your contributions going into it. Even a greatly-devalued RM pension scheme will almost certainly be better than a private one, because it will have two lots of contributions going into it: yours and RM's. Unless they take another pension holiday