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Old 15th Aug 2021, 15:30
  #238 (permalink)  
Lima Juliet
 
Join Date: May 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 4,333
Received 80 Likes on 32 Posts
Originally Posted by Professor Plum
it is because of this very reason I will be leaving at (and perhaps before) my EDP pension point.

The government has already made unlawful changes to the pension scheme I joined up on, and now forced me onto a new one with no choice.

I don’t think for one second that further changes to my pension scheme won’t be made in the next decade-and any changes will not be for the better (and if past performance is anything to go by-possibly unlawful!)

Don’t get me wrong-even now it’s a good a scheme, but given my concerns/future uncertainty, I think it’s better i jump in a few years with what I’ve got, than stay in.
Don’t leave because of pension changes, or you will join my ‘bonkers’ brigade. Anything you have earned up until they make a change is yours - it cannot be changed. They can only change things now and in the future. So leaving at EDP because they might change something in the future makes no sense at all - every year you stay past EDP, where they don’t change it, is more EDP and pension later. However, if you’re leaving at EDP because you’re fed up, fancy a change, your personal life has changed or you need the money, then fine, but for goodness sake don’t leave because they might change the pension that you might earn in the future.

By the way, there was nothing unlawful about the pension changes to AFPS15 either. The thing that was unlawful was how they offered ‘legacy pension rights’ to some, and not to others, plus offered AFPS15 to some and not others. That was age discrimination, which is unlawful without good reason, and nothing to do with the pension itself.

Nil_Drift
As it is standard these days to have better things replaced with not so good, and PR-led headlines but important things still obscured by small print, my immediate concern on seeing that all would be going onto 15 from Apr 22 was that there is no Lump Sum with 15 at age 60. Therefore, what happens to those of us who have been on 75 for 40 years and, in the last couple of months get switched, compulsorily, on to a scheme that does not give a lump sum at age 60?
Firstly, there can be a lump sum on AFPS15 at age 60, but you have to surrender part of your pension to get it. Currently, for £1 of pension you surrender you get get £12 tax free lump sum. However, you can only convert a maximum of 25% in this way. So, if you have a pension of say £20,000, and you want to convert 25% which is £5,000, then you would get a reduced pension of £15,000 and a lump sum of £60,000 tax free.
Secondly, you can’t be on AFPS75 for 40 years - the maximum is 37 years for Other Ranks and 34 years for Officers. That is AFPS75 pension 1.01. You really should get your head in the books on this. It really isn’t hard - certainly easier to read than FRCs and Aircrew Manuals!
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pensions...n-for-veterans

As for being transferred a few months before you retire, then you would likely get a few months of that new scheme. That is the way that it normally works.

Last edited by Lima Juliet; 15th Aug 2021 at 22:27. Reason: Added “for Officers”
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