Anyway, you spend your police life over massive conurbations don't you
TC, predictable, obvious and something I'm quite happy to continue doing,....except for after 03:00 when you would set off for bed and we would still be there, carrying out mutual support in the deep dark hills of the Welsh Marches.
It's not the responsibility of the LGPS to decide to award early retirement with no penalty. They are responsible for operating the fund under a clear set of rules. Those rules allow for early retirement with no actuarial reduction. However, it is the responsibility of the employer to pay the difference (5 years worth of contribution's + 5 year's worth of pension paid out).
It is easy to throw around phrases like..
(roll over and give up)
I take it you would just solve the problem and it would all be fine?
It may be the case that pilots in the early DE units did not know about actuarial reduction. By the time the unit I work for went DE we did! Anybody going DE into NPAS should also be/have been aware, of the situation.
In the case of my colleagues, I made enquiries regarding the pension beforehand and I went to a pension panel with a colleague who was due to retire and suffer the reduction. We did not manage to convince the panel that the reduction was unfair. Given the current economic climate, and the reaction of the general public to teachers strikes and fire service strikes, both citing pensions as one of the issues, I don't believe it is worth getting frustrated over the pension issue. I am perfectly happy to put my name to the cause to try and negotiate a change, the LGPS is my
only pension.
(apart from a couple of years of mirror group)! But it would be with my eyes wide open and in the hope of a spirit of largesse within my current employer.
People like Flashman should be applauded for what they are striving to achieve no matter how long it takes. Morally this is very wrong what is happening here and those in the picture - know it. I bet you won't thank him personally though if he wins this argument and everyone benefits massively, will you
Absolutely, they should be applauded, and should the argument carry I'd be the first in line to pat him on the back. I'll let the fact that you are making judgements about my character pass on this occasion
But adding a note of realism to the whole affair does not make me anti. There is no point in any of us going around with our hands over our ears (singing 'na, na, na') in the hope that if we don't think of the counter arguments or opinions then nobody else will!
What's more, what will we do if Flashman doesn't win the argument?