Final Salary Pension

Duran · Post by **Duran** » 06 Jan 2017, 05:53

Hi all. Reading the current document sent to us all. Im confused with regards final salary pensionable pay up to 2008. If as i understand it , only basic pay will be pensionable,from April 2018. Does this mean if we take our pensions after this date. Our NRA60 will only be based on basic pay. Not including . Reserved right night allowance. £ 20 ex PHG pay,and TPM allowance.Or is our NRA60 protected with full final salary pensionable pay,and pensionable allowances. If it helps. I'm 50yrs old. 32 years service.

Post by **stephen500** » 06 Jan 2017, 07:20

Duran wrote:Hi all. Reading the current document sent to us all. Im confused with regards final salary pensionable pay up to 2008. If as i understand it , only basic pay will be pensionable,from April 2018. Does this mean if we take our pensions after this date. Our NRA60 will only be based on basic pay. Not including . Reserved right night allowance. £ 20 ex PHG pay,and TPM allowance.Or is our NRA60 protected with full final salary pensionable pay,and pensionable allowances. If it helps. I'm 50yrs old. 32 years service.

What you have earned already and up to 2018 will have your fully pensionable pay included, including as a phg full night allowance. But after 2018 their will be no allowances. In the booklet on page 35 it states "for simplicity the illustrations show the position for a member who does not receive any pensionable allowances" So when you get your personal illustration in a couple of weeks, that may include your allowances up till 2018. From what I see on page 19, I think you will lose up to a MAX of £2000 per year (NRA 60) when you retire. I am 56 with 38 years (at 2018) and think I will lose about £800 per year.

Duran · Post by **Duran** » 06 Jan 2017, 11:43

Thanks for clearing that up Stephen. The £2000 max NRA 60 i will lose is on top of the loss ,when they introduced NRA 65. When we started in the early 80s we were to expect a final salary pension at 60. You get to the home straight and they move the finish line. Not good, and i bet it will only get worse before i get to 60.
The final salary pension, probably kept staff within the business. If i'm offered VR within the next 12 months i will probably take it before they clamp down on VR payouts ,which will be soon.
I guess the only uniform grade it wont hit ,are the EU drivers as the driving pay is part of their basic pay. My current pensionable weekly pay is £543. Come April 2018 under new proposals will be £412. £131 less pensionable pay. Plus 7.5% less being paid in by the business. Shocking.

Glenno · Post by **Glenno** » 08 Jan 2017, 18:55

o k, heres my Question, if you are in receipt of your NRA 60 + your NRA 65 pensions before April 2018 are they affected by these changes, especially pension " C " the Final salary part going forward????

Post by **cloherty1976** » 08 Jan 2017, 20:28

Duran wrote:Thanks for clearing that up Stephen. The £2000 max NRA 60 i will lose is on top of the loss ,when they introduced NRA 65. When we started in the early 80s we were to expect a final salary pension at 60. You get to the home straight and they move the finish line. Not good, and i bet it will only get worse before i get to 60.
The final salary pension, probably kept staff within the business. If i'm offered VR within the next 12 months i will probably take it before they clamp down on VR payouts ,which will be soon.
I guess the only uniform grade it wont hit ,are the EU drivers as the driving pay is part of their basic pay. My current pensionable weekly pay is £543. Come April 2018 under new proposals will be £412. £131 less pensionable pay. Plus 7.5% less being paid in by the business. Shocking.

Maybe we will lose our night rate oh and also we lost our paid meal reliefs too.

Post by **RobertT** » 09 Jan 2017, 06:02

Glenno wrote:o k, heres my Question, if you are in receipt of your NRA 60 + your NRA 65 pensions before April 2018 are they affected by these changes, especially pension " C " the Final salary part going forward????

If you’re already drawing your pension/s by 31st March 2018, there will be no effect on the part/s that you’ve taken.

Glenno · Post by **Glenno** » 09 Jan 2017, 19:07

Many thanks Robert

Downeagle · Post by **Downeagle** » 09 Jan 2017, 19:55

can I assume there will still be an NRA60 and NRA65 after March 2018 it's just how the pension return will be calculated?

Post by **RobertT** » 10 Jan 2017, 05:01

Downeagle wrote:can I assume there will still be an NRA60 and NRA65 after March 2018 it's just how the pension return will be calculated?

Your current pension is made up of two parts: The NRA60 which relates to service up to 31st March 2010; and the NRA65 which is from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2018(assuming closure), they will remain in place as now.

After then we will be paying into a completely different type of pension(defined contribution) which is just a pot of money that we’ll have a number of different options with any time after age 55. There are no guarantees as to how much the pot will be worth and therefore no guarantees to the benefits we might get.

There will be no reductions made to the DC pot for taking it before 60 or 65 as there is with the RMPP benefits. But obviously the earlier you take it the less it’s likely to be worth.

Downeagle · Post by **Downeagle** » 10 Jan 2017, 10:24

Thank you Robert, I have previously sought information regarding two colleagues who are 60 this month and are to receive their NRA60 shortly, I myself am 60 in April 2018 and presume I just take my NRA60 like these guys and going forward we trundle along to final retirement at the revised terms.
I found the booklet informative but also confusing, why bring in state pension figures that are not paid by Royal Mail and are dependent on circumstances.

Post by **RobertT** » 10 Jan 2017, 11:08

Downeagle wrote:Thank you Robert, I have previously sought information regarding two colleagues who are 60 this month and are to receive their NRA60 shortly, I myself am 60 in April 2018 and presume I just take my NRA60 like these guys and going forward we trundle along to final retirement at the revised terms.

Yes, 60 is the optimum age to take your NRA60 due it not being reduced and not increased for deferment either. Plus you will still have your NRA65 to take, with 65 being the optimum age for similar reasons, although the age you take them will always be a personal decision to a large degree. And you’ll have a DC pot too.

I found the booklet informative but also confusing, why bring in state pension figures that are not paid by Royal Mail and are dependent on circumstances.

I agree the booklet was quite confusing, but having different sections and some parts of the pension paid by RM and others by the government, etc I suppose it’s never going to be easy.

I think the inclusion of state pensions was a deliberate move to make the changes look less severe than they really are. In practice many won’t get the full rate of SP and won’t get it until 67 or later.

There will be several different investments to choose from in the DC scheme, and nobody really knows how well they will perform, so the figures relating to that pension are just estimates.