NATS medical/pension

[alfie1999]

Due to start at the College in June and I'm wondering about the pension and any medical cover.

1. Can 'late-starters' make added contributions to make up for lost time?

2. Due NATS provide any sort of medical insurance scheme, and if they do what are the rates?

Thanks

(I did ask these questions at the interview stage but the HR lady didn't have the answers).

[Legs11]

Forsooth, methinks you need to get on the old blower to personnel, oops sorry Human Resources.

Pension AVCs were possible in my day but don't know about medical insurance. Penny pinching accountants won't be too keen on that one.:mad:

[Gonzo]

No company medical insurance. You get a discount from BUPA, PPP etc. There is a company dental plan, but it's only open to new applicants for one month every year.

Pension top ups (AVCs) are to my knowledge still available.

[foghorn]

AVCs won't be a problem from April 2005 as the government is reforming the pension system - you will be able to contribute to both an occupational pension and a personal pension at the same time, and you'll also be able to contribute up to 100% of your salary at any age.

So even if the NATS scheme won't allow top-ups you'll be able to make large AVCs to a personal pension concurrent with your NATS pension.

It may even be prudent from a risk diversifcation point of view to have your AVCs held with a different provider.

[mr.777]

Hi Alfie.
In answer to your questions,
(1) Yes
(2) No...but there are various schemes such as HSA that you can join at a discounted rate.
Incidentally,the pension is very good....its actually CAA,so Civil Service,and you'll be well looked after,if you can see that far ahead....personally,I can't see past my 1st Sim run on Tuesday!
Hurry up and get down the College so me and the rest of Course 130 aren't the "new kids" anymore !!:ok:
777

[alfie1999]

mr777,
I was told a few weeks back that the March course was going to be limited numbers and purely aerodrome; the June group were the first to go through the new system and would be mostly area. Do you know if this is still the plan?

mr777,
you've pretty much answered my questions on another thread. HR told me that the salary drop starts from october so if you do hear something definate to the contrary...

[mr.777]

Alfie,
You are right...we've been told that we will all be doing Approach and not Area,assuming we all pass our Aerodrome course...which is good news for those of us who want to work in the tower i.e me :D
However,due to the nature of the job and operational requirements we were told this might change.To be honest,and you'll see what I mean when you start,theres too much else to worry about at the moment...its not an issue until you get to Aerodrome 2,which is a good 3 months down the road for us.
There's only 11 of us on our course,which is actually quite nice.I'm sure we were told that Jun04 would be doing approach also,although I'm not completely sure.If I hear anything I'll let you know.
Back to the books now!!
777