Consequently those Spec Aircrew with less than 5 years were not able to transfer to the scheme.
True. Neither was there any significant Spec Aircrew salary change to compensate for this.
So, no reason to stay longer than absolutely necessary for anyone over 50, unless they were a serial brat-breeder on boarding school allowance or had no hope of work in civvy strasse. Pins out, black and yellow pulled a week or so after this was confirmed. Better by far the pension you could be sure of.......