Pension status after dismissal

makingsounds · Post by **makingsounds** » 03 Jan 2020, 18:18

What happens to your pension if you are dismissed for dishonesty?

Do Royal Mail take back anything they've paid in?

30 odd years of service looks like coming to an end over the unauthorised use of a vehicle which was involved in a minor accident which has been discovered after no initial declaration by the driver. He has admitted it.

Would it be better to resign if dismissal looks imminent?

Post by **rogersh** » 03 Jan 2020, 18:44

This recent thread on the subject gives various outcomes.
https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communi ... 70#p874170" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Post by **fb1969** » 03 Jan 2020, 19:48

In the last couple of years we have had a few people resign when it was likely they were going to be sacked. Two of them were for work related incidents and all were over 50 with long service. I have no idea if they were advised/told to resign in order to keep their pensions, but it was a rumour at the time.

Dindin · Post by **Dindin** » 03 Jan 2020, 21:54

Never resign in those circumstances

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 04 Jan 2020, 08:49

Dindin wrote:Never resign in those circumstances

......... can you expand on that, please.

Dindin · Post by **Dindin** » 04 Jan 2020, 09:46

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
Dindin wrote:Never resign in those circumstances
......... can you expand on that, please.

You can resign but you won't get benefits

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 04 Jan 2020, 11:34

They will only go after employer contributions to a pension in cases where their is a loss to the business through theft or fraud, almost always after it is proven in court and only after all other avenues to recover the money have been exhausted.

Even in those cases resigning will make no difference, they'll still go after it.

Other than that accumulated pension benefits up to the date of dismissal/resignation are not affected by the way you leave the business.

It is obviously not desirable to have dismissal due to dishonesty on your CV/reference.

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 04 Jan 2020, 15:49

Woody Guthrie wrote:They will only go after employer contributions to a pension in cases where their is a loss to the business through theft or fraud, almost always after it is proven in court and only after all other avenues to recover the money have been exhausted.

Even in those cases resigning will make no difference, they'll still go after it.

Other than that accumulated pension benefits up to the date of dismissal/resignation are not affected by the way you leave the business.

It is obviously not desirable to have dismissal due to dishonesty on your CV/reference.

POCA Proceeds Of Crime Act when if you go to trial and are found guilty of the offence they the defendant can and most case do recover the costs be that of the prosecution cost they incur or more so the cost of the customers loss which is paid out of budget!

heapsy · Post by **heapsy** » 05 Jan 2020, 10:24

Dindin wrote:
TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
Dindin wrote:Never resign in those circumstances
......... can you expand on that, please.
You can resign but you won't get benefits

Makes no difference. If you get sacked, you also don't get benefits.

Tman · Post by **Tman** » 05 Jan 2020, 11:16

Yes, and it used to be that if you were sacked you also lost the employer's contributions part of your pension too.

Dindin · Post by **Dindin** » 05 Jan 2020, 11:27

heapsy wrote:
Dindin wrote:
TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
Dindin wrote:Never resign in those circumstances
......... can you expand on that, please.
You can resign but you won't get benefits
Makes no difference. If you get sacked, you also don't get benefits.

ok thanks. Why's that? It seems a bit harsh

Post by **RobertT** » 05 Jan 2020, 12:01

You may still be able to get state benefits if you resign or are sacked, but it can depend on the circumstances and how long your 'benefit sanction;' lasts for.

These links will give more info:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/ ... dismissed/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/e ... t-your-job" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In most cases of dismissal from RM, you won't lose any of your pension. But if you've defrauded the company and have to pay money back, then your pension can potentially be used to repay your ill gotten gains, if you have no other way of repaying that money.
In practice, a court of law will decide if that's the case or not.

Post by **NorthernBoy** » 05 Jan 2020, 16:20

makingsounds wrote:What happens to your pension if you are dismissed for dishonesty?

Do Royal Mail take back anything they've paid in?

30 odd years of service looks like coming to an end over the unauthorised use of a vehicle which was involved in a minor accident which has been discovered after no initial declaration by the driver. He has admitted it.

Would it be better to resign if dismissal looks imminent?

No, the individual will not lose accrued pension benefits for this type of dismissal.

Post by **Navalron** » 08 Jan 2020, 07:35

Robert T is bang on as usual. They cannot take your pension away from you for any reason. Like Robert says, if you have screwed RM out of cash or committed fraud ect and if you can't pay it back then they can apply to the courts to claim money from your pension to make good their loss. Your pension is deferred wages, it's not a gift that someone can just decide to take away from you and the guys who resigned might have had good reason to do so but after 50 years I would have already been away touring and not walksorting and then hitting the street at that age no matter if I was still in good shape. Anyway that's a thing of the past. You will be lucky to get 25 years out the job with the miles walked now and soon with everyone going onto temp rolling contracts ( casual contract) for new starts when your body gives in their will be no more ill health benefits it will be bye bye, next Muppet please. Sad but true.