PENSION CHANGES?

[holly123]

HI , not the best when it comes to pension changes but will we be better or worse off with these new changes in N I payments

[frankieboy]

The only change you will see is that your take home pay will increase by a couple of quid a week if that.

[RobertT]

Assuming you just pay the standard pension amount i.e no AVC’s, then most people will initially be better off under PSE probably by around £2.50 per week. But when the rate of NI goes up to 12% for RMPP members in April 2016, most will be slightly worse off, but only by around £1-£1.50 per week.

The amounts I quoted are only rough guessimates as in practice wages and pension contributions will vary from person to person. Anybody who pays AVC’s will see a bigger initial saving and may be slightly better off after April 2016 aswell depending on AVC amounts being saved.

[Celtic warrior]

What I can't understand is .... If our pension contributions are reduced from our gross pay (Top line) and Royal Mail will make the contributions on our behalf, what happens with any redundancy or IHR calculations?
These are worked out on our pensionable pay X years of service.
Will these be greatly reduced .. I only ask this in fear of redundancies being forced in.

[RobertT]

What I can't understand is .... If our pension contributions are reduced from our gross pay (Top line) and Royal Mail will make the contributions on our behalf, what happens with any redundancy or IHR calculations?
These are worked out on our pensionable pay X years of service.
Will these be greatly reduced .. I only ask this in fear of redundancies being forced in.

I'm not too sure about IHR, but redundancy shouldn't be affected: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/CMSPages/GetFil ... ea62db9863" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Celtic warrior]

Thanks RobertT.

[Jambomatt1874]

Been taking a bit of advice on this and it appears it's all for the benefit of Royal Mail, if I opt out do I continue paying like I do just now or does it mean I'm opting out of my pension altogether?

[RobertT]

Been taking a bit of advice on this and it appears it's all for the benefit of Royal Mail, if I opt out do I continue paying like I do just now or does it mean I'm opting out of my pension altogether?

Both employees and RM will be saving NI.
You will still be in the RM pension.
You won’t lose out on your state pension.
If you opt out you are choosing to pay more NI than you have to.

*For some people , opting out may be a sensible decision because it may affect their Working Tax Credits for example. But for most it will be an easy way to save themselves a few pounds.