I'm with 4everAD on this - are they making this deliberately difficult just to hide what is going on? To quote Sir Humphrey, Osborne is most definitely conducting himself in a manner which, all things being considered, and making all possible allowances, is, not to put too fine a point on it, perhaps not entirely straightforward. Just what the hell are they doing down there? Even a bear of the meanest intelligence can see that all they are doing is storing up even more problems for the future. This constant buggering around with pensions will simply force people to say:
'sod it, it isn't worth it; with all the changes and tinkering, the only thing I can guarantee is that I'm going to get screwed by something I don't and can't understand. I'm not playing, the State can sort me out in retirement!'
Well, that constant tinkering (or is pandering to the politics of envy to win a few votes, I can't quite tell) might enable Gideon to plug the gap now - only it won't if the recent IFS report is to be believed - but forcing more people to rely on the state in later life by disinsentivizing saving now is a recipe for disaster when the demographics are already skewed towards an aging population. If this is the sort of muddled thinking they churn out at Oxford, I'm glad I decided against it and went to a decent university!
Well that's the rant bit over, but just what can we do to mitigate such stupidity? If we stay in AFPS for the long haul, it's likely to lead to a potentially significant tax bill; if we pull out of AFPS we don't get any compensation of abated salary. I would almost be prepared to do a deal with the MOD: stop paying my pension contribution and instead meet my annual ISA allowance. It would save the MOD a reasonable sum each year (potentially quite a bit taken across the services) and enable me to avoid a tax bill for doing nothing other than my job. Frankly the 'promise' of an index linked pension is becoming more and more notional given constant tax and scheme changes. At least I'd be master of my own destiny this way.
The potential lack of options and the seeming inevitability of yet another shafting is not only frustrating but damaging to morale and operational effectiveness. God knows how much time is being wasted at units up and down the country as rather than doing their jobs, individuals are sitting in crew rooms talking about it or hunched over DINs and calculators trying to work it all out.
Last edited by Melchett01; 8th Feb 2016 at 22:14.