Pay off to reduce hours?

Post by **onejontwo** » 25 Oct 2020, 19:30

One of my colleagues has informed me that a sorter in the main Manchester sorting office has taken a large lump sum (£18000 I believe) to take a reduction in hours as he is nearing retirement age. Now I don't know the full facts but is there such a thing in Royal Mail? I would certainly consider it if it was on offer.

Post by **RobertT** » 25 Oct 2020, 19:47

Sounds like buy down of hours, which is a form of redundancy.

Post by **freespeech** » 25 Oct 2020, 21:35

RobertT wrote:Sounds like buy down of hours, which is a form of redundancy.

.....and if he is in the final salary scheme a big mistake.

Post by **Steve_claret** » 26 Oct 2020, 09:59

freespeech wrote:
RobertT wrote:Sounds like buy down of hours, which is a form of redundancy.
.....and if he is in the final salary scheme a big mistake.

Alternatively they may have already taken all of their pensions, either early or at NRA, and are no longer paying into the pension scheme. Hence why they no longer feel that they need to work full time hours. In that scenario then the only downside I can see is that they will have to pay tax & NI on the whole amount of the buy down lump sum. It's also worth the OP being aware that buy downs are only usually available as part of an office revision and with full agreement of the CWU.