32 NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2009
News and information for serving personnel
Marines soak Sienna
THERE must have been some arguments in Of course, it’s not just on celluloid that events, which often include demonstrations
Praise
the office of the Royal Marines Commando you might have spied the RM team, whose of hand-to-hand fighting, climbing simulators
Display Team (RMCDT) when the call came summer events kicked off in style at the and similar static attractions.
in... “We need you to rescue Hollywood star Armed Forces Day celebrations at Chatham The RMCDT are trained specialists in
Sienna Miller from ‘insurgents’ on the River Historic Dockyard. unarmed combat, helicopter and structural
for rehab
Thames.” “Chatham Armed Forces Day was a abseils, high aerial slides, and qualified
And so, the beautiful blonde actress perfect celebration of the Royal Marines supervisors of the rock-climbing walls.
was duly saved from the rebel hordes showcasing their specialised skills,” said If your unit or organisation could use the
centre
and delivered safely – although somehow Maj Bruce Foster of the RM Outreach services of the RMCDT for a public event,
her white shirt managed to get wet (and Team. send your bid (with preferably at least 12
transparent) en route – to the press launch “We had Marines fast-roping from a Sea months’ notice) to:
of her new film G I Joe on board HMS King on to a Rigid Raider at speed to arrest Maj Bruce Foster RM
THE South West Regional
Belfast. insurgents much to the delight of the 30,000 Corps Colonel Dept
Rehabilitation Unit at Devonport
Although the film itself did not get the crowd. CTCRM
Naval Base was hailed by Kevan
best of reviews, the audience would have “The RMCDT allows the public to see the Lympstone
Jones, the Under Secretary of
enjoyed the new recruitment advert for the Commando ethos in action.” Exmouth
State for Defence.
Royal Marines film Swamp Ambush which But rapid roping and rigid raiders are not EX8 5AR
He toured the centre and
was shown before it. the only commando skills on display at these 01392 414154
described it as an example for the
rest of the country in providing
dedicated service for injured
military personnel needing help
JPA focus
to return to work, whether
THE JPA Information Forum
injured in training or in theatre.
has highlighted a couple of useful
The minister said: “The Royal
pointers for people plunging into
Navy and Royal Marines are
the JPA system.
ahead of the game on this issue
Pensive about
TROPHY P9224 is a large
■ Self Service User Guide
decorated silver bowl
here in the south-west.
The Self Service User Guide
around the sides of which
“This is pioneering work
gives step-by-step instructions
are enamelled colour views
providing a rehabilitation
on how to update information
pathway called ‘Journey back to
or submit claims for allowances
business’ from either injuries in
on JPA.
Afghanistan, training or from
A quick look at this will more
their day-to-day job.
than likely answer any question
“This is exactly what is needed
you may have.
pensions?
of the city of Gloucester,
the City Arms and Naval
emblems.
The central feature is
a model of the tower of
Gloucester Cathedral and the
with casualties coming back from
It can be found at the JPS
trophy was presented to the
Afghanistan and for the transition
Portal, selecting Library then Self
light cruiser HMS Gloucester
either back into the world of
Service User Guide.
by the city in 1910.
work within their units or into
■ Access to the JPA via the
YOU may have read recent newspaper articles portraying an
civilian life.”
internet
envy the private sector has towards perceived ‘gold-plated’
Problems in
Amongst the battle
honours for HMS Gloucester
He added: “This is a centre of
Are you one of the few that
is the second battle of Cape
excellence and the other Services
does not have regular access to
public sector pension schemes, writes Lt Cdr David Marsh,
are learning about it. It is a kind
JPA via the MOD Intranet? If so,
Pensions secretary of the Forces Pension Society.
of one-stop service because of its
you could be a candidate for an
This envy grows ever greater fund; group company pension
sharing on
Finisterre, which took place
on October 14 1747 during
location as a regional centre.”
Internet Access to Shared Services
as more and more private sector scheme fund; or private pension
The Devonport-based
(IASS) card, which will enable
companies close their final salary scheme fund?
divorce
the War of the Austrian
Succession.
Rehabilitation Centre is close to
you to access JPA via the internet
pension schemes, not just for new To obtain a comparison of value
The first battle of Finisterre
the NHS Derriford Hospital with
(with some limitations, eg no
recruits, but for existing employees we have to assume that any one of
THE differences for couples
had been in May of that year,
its military staff and the Recovery
OJAR/SJAR facility).
too, and substitute them for either these funds holds an identical sum
divorcing under the new
when a French convoy of 30
Cell, and the new Hasler
Contact WO1 Steve Campbell
a defined contribution scheme or of £466,900.
pension scheme AFP 05 when
ships had been routed by
Company Royal Marines.
on 93832 3579 or by email
offer a group ‘private pension’ However having accumulated
compared to AFP 75 have been
Admiral Anson’s squadron of
FLEET-DNPS BIS PSO SO3 for
scheme with some form of such a vast sum of money, we now
highlighted by Chris Upfield, a
14 ships.
contribution by the company into have to see if it is sufficient to buy
specialist in the subject at law
The French needed to
Patients
further information.
the employee’s plan. on the open market an identical
firm Coffin Mew.
reopen the supply routes
High on a hill
This growing envy is pension to that which the Armed
According to Chris, the
from North America and in
first at
compounded further as members Forces Pension Scheme is offering
differences cause a number of
the October assembled a
of defined contribution pension – an annual pension of £20,300,
difficulties for judges and legal
total of 252 merchant ships
sits FCISSU
plans and private pension plans plus a lump sum of £60,900,
practitioners in formulating
off La Rochelle; eight men-
Raleigh
have, over the past 15 months plus a dependant’s pension worth
an approach which achieves
of-war from Brest would
or so, watched in horror as their 50 per cent and all fully index
fairness between Service
escort this convoy.
THE offi cial reopening of F and G
pension-pot values have reduced linked.
personnel and their spouses at
Although North America
centre
legs at the Fleet Communication
significantly because of the current After deducting £60,900
the time of divorce.
was largely a secondary
Information System Support Unit
world financial crisis and the from the pension pot to give an
“Under AFP75, there were
theatre during this war, it was
at Portsdown Hill was carried out
crashing markets in which their equivalent tax-free lump sum as
already some issues that arose,
a source of raw materials
A PATIENTS group at HMS by Cdre Richard Jackman.
pension funds are invested. the gratuity (we could have taken
such as the doubtful underlying
for both the British and the
Raleigh has become the fi rst in This significant refurbishment
Given the manner in which as much as £116,725 tax free –
accuracy of the Transfer Values
French.
the Royal Navy to be affi liated and expansion project was required
‘final salary’ pension schemes 25 per cent of the value of the
(CETVs) produced, particularly
To counter the French
with the National Association for following the extensive growth of
are falling by the wayside in the fund, but that would leave less to
in the case of Service personnel
convoy, led by Commodore
Patient Participation. Information Systems within the
private sector, I suspect most buy our pension) we are left with
leaving service in their early
the Marquis de l’Etanduere,
The HMS Raleigh Patient Joint Service Environment and
of you, after leaving the Armed £406,000 with which to buy our
40s,” he said.
the British despatched Rear
Participation Group was more importantly to provide the
Forces, will not be lucky enough pension.
“The AFP75 pension and
Admiral Sir Edward Hawke
launched in May, and is similar support infrastructure required for
to find an employer with such At the time of writing this article
lump sum benefits could
from Plymouth on August
to groups operated in civilian the DII(FD) system, which is due
a pension scheme in place, and (late June 2009) the best deal I
nonetheless be accessed
9 with a force of 14 ships,
surgeries to allow two-way to be rolled out across all three
will end up in either a defined could find was £11,313 per year. immediately on leaving service,
which included the 50-gun,
communications between the Services in the near future.
contribution company pension To be able to buy an identical whereas the AFP05 pension is
fourth rate HMS Gloucester.
practice and its patients. Ultimately intended to replace
scheme, a group company pension pension award that is being preserved to age 65 before it
The two fleets met in the
CPO James Smith, Raleigh’s such systems as CSS, RAFCIS
scheme or having to set up your offered by the Armed Forces can be accessed.”
early morning, approximately
practice manager, chairs the and JOCS, a number of these
own private pension plan. Pension Scheme (having removed The compensation for the
200 miles from Ushant and
group; he said: “Patients have deployable Secret network systems
None of these three options is £60,900 for the gratuity), we AFP05 pensioner is that the
Hawke, believing he faced a
more to offer doctors than just will be based at Portsdown and
anywhere near as valuable as a would need to have a fund valued valuable EDP lump sum and
superior enemy force, formed
their illnesses. RM Stonehouse in preparation
final salary pension scheme. at £736,000. income benefits can usually be
line of battle.
“We are looking for ideas for deployment with such units as
Today everybody is allowed to If you are wondering what accessed at a much earlier
Realising this not to be
on how to improve the health Maritime Battle Staff (MBS) and
be in possession of a pension makes such a vast difference, I age.
the case, he compensated
care services we provide. This 3 Commando Brigade.
valued at £1.75m (this excludes can sum it up succinctly by saying However because these
for the inferior firepower of
could be about setting up a new Once deployed these systems
the state pension) before they RPI increases. benefits do not form part of the
his ships by directing them
support group or changes to our will be established, maintained
begin to incur a penal rate of If we took our £406,000 with pension, they cannot be made
to concentrate on one of the
procedures.” and administered by the unit’s
income tax, over-and-above the which we are going to buy our the subject of pension-sharing
enemy at a time.
Ideas taken up so far include personnel who will remain with
tax they can expect to pay on their pension, and decided to opt for orders.
When the long-range
opening the medical centre the headquarters as the DII(FC)
pensions anyway. a dependant’s pension worth 50 Therefore the spouse
artillery duel failed to
earlier for sailors who need to subject matter experts.
To do this with a defined per cent, but decided not to have of an AFP05 pensioner is
materialise he then ordered
see a doctor as a fresh case. In Reflecting the joint nature of
contribution pension, group index linking, the best deal we potentially more prejudiced on
‘General Chase’, allowing his
addition, the new times are more the task, the unit is commanded
company pension or private could get is an annual pension divorce than that of an AFP75
captains to take independent
compatible with the basic training by RFA 1/O Steve Taylor and
pension is very simple – it is the worth £22,529 – that’s £2,229 pensioner, reckons Chris.
action and to overhaul the
programme for new recruits. currently consists of over 60
amount of money in the fund at more than the Armed Forces An EDP lump sum and
French line.
The National Association personnel drawn from RN, RM,
the point of cashing it in to buy Pension Scheme pays out. income stream is a factor a
The French lost 4,000
for Patient Participation is a RFA, civil servants and MOD
your pension. You can appreciate therefore judge must consider, yet it is
men and had six warships
registered charity, and affiliation contractors.
Your Armed Forces pension that the value the pensions often not known at the time of
captured, but most of the
allows each practice to apply to These personnel are divided
does not have a fund and so there industry places on having a fully divorce if or when an EDP will
merchantmen managed to
the Royal College of Surgeons for among Portsmouth, RM
has to be a formula constructed to index-lined pension is huge – be received.
escape and continue across
a grant. Stonehouse, Faslane and
assess its value. more than double its value. The EDP income payments
the Atlantic.
CPO Smith said: “We Marchwood, whilst FCISSU
Luckily the Inland Revenue’s In answer to the question “Will are another issue – they may
However the majority
have applied for a grant of also have personnel permanently
formula is easy – it is the value of you need to work again?” – if you form the only income available
were hunted down and later
£3,000, and if successful, we embedded within the MBS and in
your annual pension multiplied by calculate that your Armed Forces to retired Service personnel
captured in the West Indies.
will be looking to our Patient MCC Bahrain.
20, plus your gratuity; in effect, Pension is going to be sufficient who have been unable to find
This defeat finally
Participation Group to come up FCISSU are tasked to provide
your pension multiplied by 23. to meet the standard of living work in the civilian world, so
convinced the French of
with suggestions on how that a 24/7 global support service
Putting this into practice, let us you hope to attain on leaving the why would it be fair to divert
their feebleness at sea; they
money should be spent to benefit to CINC Fleet’s deployed
take a look at a Warrant Officer Services, the answer is “No”. a proportion to the spouse
made no further efforts to
those under our care.” Communications and Information
leaving the Armed Forces at age If you believe that your Armed immediately when the spouse
breach the British blockades
The group, comprising of five Systems, supporting both legacy
55 having completed 37 years’ Forces Pension and State Pension, may be in work with a good
and most French colonies,
sailors from various departments CIS and future deployable DII
service on AFPS75. when added together, will not give income?
particularly in the Caribbean,
at the base, meets monthly. systems.
The pension awarded on exit you sufficient income on which to Chris warns: “There can
soon came close to
Effectively a CIS support
is £20,300 per year; applying the retire at State Pension age, you be no standard approaches
starvation.
‘one-stop shop’ for the Fleet and
■ See also the review
RFAs, the unit not only services, formula of multiplying the pension have probably gathered by now to AFP05 on divorce. The
on page 41 of The Age of
fits, supports and rectifies these by 23, the value of this pension is that to bridge the gap you are circumstances of each
the Ship of the Line written
systems, it is also involved in the £466,900. going to have to work for longer individual couple will be looked
by Jonathan Dull for more
deployment of new systems such How does that compare with and harder than you might have at in deciding what the fairest
analysis on the rival navies
as Fleet Interim Mobile System. a defined contribution scheme’s originally envisaged. approach to take is.”
News and information for serving personnel
032-033_NN_oct09 2-6.indd 1 21/9/09 14:42:10
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