As someone whose knowledge of pensions is somewhat limited, firstly I take my hat off to those of you who take the time on here to explain much of what is spouted by NATS/NTUS et al and put it into plain english. It really helps my understanding of what is obviously a very complex subject.
Now I have a couple of questions if I may... (and please note these are purely hypothetical)
For those of us who joined the company after the 2001 deed of trust, would we automatically still be considered members of an "old scheme" if the proposed new scheme were to come into force for the newbies? I personally would not wish to be hoodwinked into voting my own pension out of existence simply by virtue of my start date with the company....
Also, if said new scheme were to come online for new staff, is there no way that present members benefits can be ringfenced, to prevent any future ballots (say, er, in 15 years time??
) allowing new scheme members to vote on old scheme members benefits?
These questions are of course as I said purely hypothetical and I am not advocating a yes vote on an "i'm alright Jack" basis and screw anyone who joins after Jan, but for someone who doesn't really understand the finer points of pension law, I would be interested to know the answers.
Cheers comrades, see you by the oil drum....
