Following a week of "should I or shouldn't I" angst over my pension transfer, complete with much working out of whether I could manage to leave the pension intact (should I decide it's a good idea to do so) and still retire at 58, my manager dropped a quiet bombshell at the end of last week. Apparently "letters" will be issued by the end of the month.
By this we took him to mean that redundancies of some flavour are back on the menu. There has been much speculation and rumour on the subject for the last 18 months or so. (See here , here and here) with the latest "update" a couple of months ago being that there was to be no redundancy offer in our section due to the high number of contractors we still employ. Apparently so long as there are contractors in post, permanent members of staff cannot be made redundant despite the fact that the work done by the contractors is in a specific role for which none of us are trained, and at a lower level than we are currently employed. Apparently management have now found a way round this, maybe by shuffling people around departments as they're deeply immersed in a transformation exercise at the moment. ("Transformation" being the word you use when you want to find a way of getting the same amount of work done by half the number of people :-))
I had put the possibility of voluntary (or compulsory) redundancy and how it could work for me to the back of my mind but as it might now come back to the forefront, I don't feel equipped to make any type of decision on my pension. The "Welcome" pack from Fidelity is sitting, unopened, on the shelf.
If I'm made redundant I would get immediate access to my LGPS pension, unreduced. There would be no pressing need for me to have access to the £20,000 in the FSAVC over the next couple of years (although it may still be desirable).
So, many thanks to all who left very useful comments on my last post but for the moment I'm going to park it and wait to see what the end of the month brings. Fingers crossed I either get my marching orders or can apply to be given them :-)
Good luck! Sounds like a sweet deal to get the DB pension without actuarial reduction!
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with this Cerrdiwen! Getting immediate access with no reductions - that would be a result! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's not often you actually want someone to get made redundant, but I hope you do for great deal you'd get on the pension! Fingers crossed
ReplyDeleteCheers
Hi Cerrdiwen,
ReplyDeleteIts not often that its good or wanting to get made redundant, but fingers crossed it works out for you the right way and they give you a good solid decision that will allow you to be secure!
That would be a fantastic result and certainly gives you the best "out". That is surely the very definition of having your cake and eating it!
ReplyDeleteThanks all.
ReplyDeleteHopefully this time around we might actually get to find out what our options are. :-)
Potentially some good news on the redundancy front! A strange sentence to write but hopefully it will pan out well this time around :)
ReplyDelete