New pension finalised

[VinRouge]

my bet is that by state pension age, if you are recieving those sums, you can say bye bye to the state pension. how long before it gets means tested for income? its the only real way of sorting out the countries fiscal problems, especially looking ahead to the demographic issues we face of a smaller workforce supporting a larger retiree population.

[Herc-u-lease]

Where is it?

Melchett,

Would you be so kind as to provide a link to the new calculator, or if on the intranet give some directions please. Spent about 30 mins this AM trying to find it.

TVM

H

[Melchett01]

Herc-u-lease,

I don't think it's on general release yet. I happened to get sight of what I think is a beta version (it had some weird IP address rather than the usual gov.uk address) that's being used for testing through one of the HR bods and was allowed to play with it at work.

Apparently it is supposed to go live in a couple of weeks. Whether they will have the old / new calculators running side by side I don;t know, but I have spent the morning printing off calculations from the current calculator so I can at least do a side by side comparison when the new one does go live and they drop the old one.

[Just This Once...]

Having had another play today I found I got different figures than yesterday with AFPS05/15 but still suspect that they need tweaking to be correct; but it is a beta test.

The CARE element surprised me a little as the 1.25, 2.25 and 3.25% buttons on the calculator really didn't make much difference to the final pension - a few £100 here or there but no significant change from the 0% figure.

[Al R]

Melch,

Thanks - useful. Is there any mention of the annual statement (can you click to order one for instance?) and annual and lifetime allowances?

You make a good point about the total that the fund will pay you pover the course of a lifetime, but if you peg it prematurely, that amount gets slashed. There was a report out a few days ago, it'd be interesting to see the life expectancy of military veterans in retirement compared to their civvy counterparts.

That factor (and the pension income gap) makes serving until 60 more desirable for some (and essential for others?). It is one of the few instances too, which make the option of considering objectively the pros and cons of moving a final salary scheme 'pot' into a personal arrangement, slightly less 'nuclear' and slightly more pragmatic.

RPSM09104610 - Technical Pages: Member benefits: Lump sums: Serious ill-health lump sum: Conditions for payment

Serving until age 60 a step closer? - Echelon Wealthcare

My local Tesco now sells Keo; will that do you?!

[Just This Once...]

Hi Al, no button but we will all get an annual statement as a matter of course.

[Bob Viking]

Pensions Calculator

Just a quick question for those in the know. I have been playing with the pensions calculator and I'm trying to work out what level I need to enter to calculate how much I will get if I serve 5 years as PAS. I would transfer to PAS on 3 Oct 2015 (if I were to accept). So the question is what level of Flt Lt would I need to enter if leaving on PVR after 5 years on PAS after serving a previous 16 years?
BV

[Just This Once...]

Bob, the calc does not work for future PAS, but in your case you could work out the pre-PAS bit, re-run it as a wg cdr at appropriate level to work out the 2015 to 2020 bit of AFPS15 (ignore the '75 element for the wg cdr calc) then add your pre-2015 flt lt figure to the post-2015 wg cdr figure and Bob's your… well err.

Hope this helps, if not send me your details and I will have a go for you.

[Bob Viking]

JTO

Thanks for your reply. I'll give it a go. Although it appears to me that it at least tries to do PAS calculations since it asks the questions about PAS and dates and then the level to which you're on. If not for PAS what is all that about?!
I can't see me wanting to stay until 55 but the extra few years to serve the minimum RoS for PAS might work out quite well for me.
BV

[Just This Once...]

Hi Bob, it is for PAS and it does work for those on PAS; where it falls down is for future PAS.

I was told V12.1 would allow for future PAS but apart from a small wording change it does not appear to work.

[artyhug]

Bob it does future PAS transitions, or at least did last time I looked.

You can enter the date of transition and to decide on the level of PAS attained you'll need to download the PDF of this years pay review.

Total up your pre transition pay, basic and flying pay and look for the nearest PA level that doesn't reduce your pay. Work out how many full years you'll serve as PA and add to your start level and hey presto that's the level you'll leave in or pension purposes.

Caution all the above may not be true!

[Just This Once...]

All sounds credible and that was the intent with V12.1; my fat fingers have yet to make sense of it though. When I try it it does not give me the option of entering the current career stream flt lt / sqn ldr rate at transition and only gives current PAS levels.

[artyhug]

I'd need to have another look and currently my hangover is preventing any possibility of that. I can't remember needing to put in any details of pay levels at transition only at exit.

[SAR Bloke]

Whilst talking about PAS, does anyone know what happens if you transfer to PAS now but haven't done your 5 year qualifying period by the time the new pension comes into force? Does anyone know if the calculator gives correct figures in this instance?

[Just This Once...]

Presuming you are on AFPS75 you get the daily PAS pension supplement for every day served on the old scheme to the day of transition. From that point the entire salary is used for the AFPS15 calculation.

Whilst this quote is listed on the calculator:

5. Those specialist groups that attract pension supplements will have their supplements based on actual days served up to the point of transition to AFPS 15 - in accordance with current rules for their specialism.

I am not entirely convinced it works correctly for all scenarios.

[Onceapilot]

Gentlemen, do not forget that if you are on AFPS05+PAS, your pensionable salary is the greater of:
the largest taxable amount earned in 12 months within the last 3 years of service, increased by the percentage that CPI exceedes pay rises since.

OAP

[Jumping_Jack]

Don't assume that you will automatically serve till 60 (if that is what you want to do). My understanding is that service to 60 beyond the 55 year point will be on selection (by Manning).

[Bob Viking]

Interesting...

Thanks for the replies guys. Essentially it appears that you can select your Flt Lt level by simply working out how many years you have spent as a Flt Lt. The addition of my basic salary plus enhanced rate flying pay plus 5 years PAS takes me to the same level as the number of years I have been a Flt Lt. Maybe it's just a coincidence in my case.
The crux of the matter for me though is what the hierarchy decide to do about retention. CAS' christmas message mentioned about some work centred around pilot retention. I'd like to think that any work will be complete before people have to make this years decision on whether or not to accept PAS. We all know it was not exactly over-subscribed last year (I was one of those who refused it) and certainly in my case an FRI may help to tip the balance. I've been criticised on this forum for being greedy before but I'm afraid it really is all about the money for me now! The kids need shoes you know.
BV

[Willard Whyte]

It has to be a bout quality of life too Bob.

I'm convinced that more 'fun' will go further than money in retaining folk.

Training routes, and dets, in N. America and Europe might break the defence budget bank quicker than a substantial pay rise though.

[Bob Viking]

WW.
I guess I'm just fortunate enough to have good Q of L right now so I can put up with it for a little while longer. I may be in the minority though.
BV