This is a pretty shocking state of affairs: clicky

Not a great way for the government to be treating soldiers.

There is a petition here to try and get the policy turned round for soldiers being made redundant in the future (of which there are going to be loads by the look of things.)

Didn’t they reduce the pension qualifying service period to allow more to get their pension if made redundant and he fell just short of the new figure?

Must be a sickener all the same

I’m sure someone will be along shortly moaning about public sector pensions.

His grievance is completely understandable.

Still a pretty good payout for 18 years work though. Far better than the equivalent private sector payout and doesn’t seem to be capped at 12 months pay equivalent like other parts of the public sector.

Was that what you were after anagallis?

I’m sure someone will be along in a minute moaning about private sector pensions and how small they are in comparison (even though they pay less into them, have a company car and other corporate perks, don’t work nights or weekends, get dividends and bonuses, etc etc etc)

Far better than the equivalent private sector payout and doesn’t seem to be capped at 12 months pay equivalent like other parts of the public sector.

wise words. let’s make public sector conditions as bad as the private sector.

can’t beat a good old race to the bottom.

on the other hand how many other 43 year olds draw 93k lump sum on retirement…
if he’d bought a home instead of renting he’d now have more yhen likely paid off his mortgage and wouldnt be living with mom and dad..
I suspect that the skills he has as an emergency medical provider will be civvy street transferable so all in lifes not THAT bad..

I genuinely sympathise, you’d think the civil service would look at people’s finishing dates to avoid something as crass as this….then again as the article suggests maybe it was done intentionally to reduce pension costs?…..if so then poor form from those in charge.

That said a lump sum of 90k and he’s saying he had to move back with his parents?!….a mate was a Corporal in the Paras and lived on camp, he payed virtually bugger all to live there and got additional money for being away on ops, its hard to spend your wages in Iraq and Afghan so he used to come home with loads in his bank account….what has this bloke been doing with his money?!

More on the issue here:

http://pensionjusticefortroops.wordpress.com/

Wow they really do get a good deal – but if that’s the deal then its harsh him losing out by such a short time period.

Good deal reflecting the commitment given to career which is a way of life rather than just a mon to fri job.

let’s make public sector conditions as bad as the private sector

No, let’s not. Let’s make the Private Sector as good as the Public Sector…
I’m 44.
When do I get my £93k…

I think the average service time is now 9 years so you would think the mod could afford to give him the full whack.

When do I get my £93k…

Did you sign up to the same pension or did you chose a different career which has a different pension?

Regarding cut-offs (for anything that has an entitlement) where do you draw the line? There will always be losers by narrow margins.

As I said earlier, I believe the cut off was moved
IIRC it was 18 years and they reduced it to 16 and that’s what this chap is just short of

72hrs tho.

Headline sounds wrong, but then when you read the detail…

He got 12 months notice and nearly £100k – at 43, and only a Sergent.

No wonder the country is going bankrupt, its the Public Sector again screwing all of us.

No, let’s not. Let’s make the Private Sector as good as the Public Sector…
I’m 44.
When do I get my £93k..

when you get yourself unionised and fight for what you deserve rather than bleating about it on an internet forum.

No wonder the country is going bankrupt, its the Public Sector again screwing all of us.

Oh dear someone lit the touch paper.

No wonder the country is going bankrupt, its the Public Sector again screwing all of us

someone fell down a rabbit hole

He’s 72 hours short, therefore “earned” about 99.9% of his pension.

The problem with the current forces pension system is that it is a “cliff edge” rather than “taper”.

Under the current system there are those who are lucky and have served long enough to qualify and those made redundant just short (in this guys case 72hrs) do not qualify for the entitlement which they have spent their career working towards.

The systems needs reviewing.

As I said earlier, I believe the cut off was moved
IIRC it was 18 years and they reduced it to 16 and that’s what this chap is just short of

That can’t be right – if he joined at 24 then made redundant at 43, his must be the 18 year pension.

Regarding cut-offs (for anything that has an entitlement) where do you draw the line? There will always be losers by narrow margins.

That’s a fair comment but but when you know that cuts are being made on purely cost ground, it does begin to look like someone has realised those nearest pensionable service will be the most expensive to employ, so by getting rid if those you save wage costs but also get the double whammy pension saving.

Though £93k sound great, when you look at the crap wages our non-commisioned armed forces are on, especially considering level of responsibility and danger, it’s actually fairly crap. His actual annual pension of £6k is woeful:- yes, at 43 he should be able to get another job, but just how many jobs are there out there?

a re assesment of pensions is necessary.. i know we ve had some etc and police pensions are changing etc and causing hardship..HOWEVER

why does a 43 yr old need a retirement pension.. this particular bloke looks fit and healthy and he sounds well vocationally qualified. he’s been well paid during his service.

why does a copper need a lump sum of 4x his final salary and an index linked pension of 66% of final salry at 49?

the jaw dropping truth is they dont.. they can go earn a living ( and many do)

with public finances focussing on the poor and infirm for cuts in income should nt these fit and healthy folk who have as much as 25 working years ahead of them have to bear some of the ”we re all in it together” or is it only the welfare claiments that are in it..

equally DC and his mates ( and i say this as a tory voter have badly let the country down, firstly by reducing tax for those on high incomes and by thier continued refusal for some sort of mansion tax.. rates have an upper limit but no lower limit speaks volumes..

That can’t be right – if he joined at 24 then made redundant at 43, his must be the 18 year pension.

Probably, I don’t recall the detail, was it reduced from 22 to 18 then?

someone fell down a rabbit hole

No, its someone who understands the ‘cost’ of money, OUR money. How average wage tax payers does it take to enable the Govt to pay out that ‘extra’ £92k (£185k – £93k) for this guy? Or put it another way, what is the cost to our children of the additional debt, to pay out this kinda money?

And, when you get yourself unionised and fight for what you deserve rather than bleating about it on an internet forum.

Tell me I’m wrong, but the Armed Forces are not unionised, they are though the Ruling Classes last bastion. After the Police, another area that needs serious change.

Just had a play on the Hargreaves Lansdown pension calculator to see how much this pension would cost most people.

Fudging his actual age (I used the age of 37 to get a planned retirement age of 55 / 18 years service as the calculator doesn’t have 43 as an optional retirement age) even the lower figure still represents an effective employer contribution of over £2000 a month towards his pension. If he’d got the original lump sum the effective employer contribution works out somewhere between 3000 – 3500 a month / £42000 a year!

totalshell…..generally speaking the pension ages in the Police and Armed forces reflect the years of shift work which take its toll on the body and in many cases the physicality of these jobs, would you want 60 year old soldiers?….it also takes into account that (generally) someone will join one of these careers young and leave with virtually no externally recognised qualifications or a ‘trade’ that directly transfers to civvy street.

No, its someone who understands the ‘cost’ of money,

So do you understand how the banks lost millions, how so many corporations found ways to avoid paying tax? Public sector pensions have changed and yet this still goes on.

seemingly lack of pedantary today.. shirely my dears he was made redundant, that is not the same as being sacked?

Still fricken criminal, you can bet no one in the up echelons of the civil service would accept this.. or have it forced upon them

why does a 43 yr old need a retirement pension.. this particular bloke looks fit and healthy and he sounds well vocationally qualified. he’s been well paid during his service.

why does a copper need a lump sum of 4x his final salary and an index linked pension of 66% of final salry at 49?

the jaw dropping truth is they dont.. they can go earn a living ( and many do)

this could be the first time we have ever agreed on something 😀

it also takes into account that (generally) someone will join one of these careers young and leave with virtually no externally recognised qualifications or a ‘trade’ that directly transfers to civvy street.

yes what would these people know about security.
Also many of the armed forces actually do a trade – I would assume a medical technician in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers has some skills that transfer to civilian trades.

Did you sign up to the same pension or did you chose a different career which has a different pension?
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

And did the soldier not meet the required criteria either? Same tough luck for both if using that argument.

Tell me I’m wrong, but the Armed Forces are not unionised, they are though the Ruling Classes last bastion. After the Police, another area that needs serious change.

and your point is ? no one in the public sector is going to affect positive change in their working conditions without union help, which if you bother to refer to the discussion is quite obviously the point of the post – not that the armed forces are unionised.

No, its someone who understands the ‘cost’ of money, OUR money………….

it’s pointless stating that when you’ve already stated this………….

No wonder the country is going bankrupt, its the Public Sector again screwing all of us

i can’t see how you could even begin to demonstrate a more confused understanding of the present malaise than that.

And did the soldier not meet the required criteria either? Same tough luck for both if using that argument.

Yes he did, he signed up for a pension because of redundancy he was just 72hours short of his full entitlement. That’s far from fair no matter who you work for.

I would assume a medical technician in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers has some skills that transfer to civilian trades.

I know if he wanted to become a Paramedic then no, other than experience he has got the rest is pretty much irrelevant he’d have to do the same process as everyone else.

why does a copper need a lump sum of 4x his final salary and an index linked pension of 66% of final salry at 49?

Who gets that? My deal was nowhere near that.

As for the soldier I feel for him, he has earned all but 72 hours of his pension.

Yes he did, he signed up for a pension because of redundancy he was just 72hours short of his full entitlement. That’s far from fair no matter who you work for.

As I thought, the qualifying period for an immediate pension was reduced from 22 to 18 years so this guy (and others) would have been well short anyway

“This includes reducing how long soldiers would have to serve for before they qualify for an immediate pension – from 22 years to 18 years for those selected for redundancy. This means many individuals will receive an immediate income for which they otherwise wouldn’t have qualified.”

http://www.defencemanagement.com/news_story.asp?id=20042

Well he obviously feels very upset about it seeing as he’s sent his medals to DC. He earned them and will be very proud of them. I’d need to be extremely upset to throw mine away.
Oh and 18 years military service I expect he’s done about 30 years worth of hours when compared to the private sector! The blokes been on ops spanning 18 years, give him his pension FFS.

The changes should be for new joiners not for those whe have already planned their lives around the current system. Immediate savings could be made through efficiency. Particularly in contracts and tendering processes where basic kit costs a fortune due to the overpriced contract it was supplied under (backhander?). The outlook that “I haven’t got a good pension so why should you” is pathetic.

The outlook that “I haven’t got a good pension so why should you” is pathetic.

I think it’s more like “Why should I pay through my tax for you to have an unnecessarily high pension when others are struggling.”