SERVICE PENSIONS
Families said that, as well as worrying about the Serving family member’s pension entitlements, 73% were also concerned about the changes in the pension scheme indexing, from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and how this had affected their long-term pension payments. Worryingly, 14% of voters did not understand what difference the change had made or how it might impact on them financially.
Participants were asked for their thoughts on whether or not Service personnel should make a direct contribution to their pensions, in line with other Crown Servants. 61% of voters felt the service person should be exempt from making a contribution, whilst 20% stated that they should, but at a lower level. Only 8% said the Armed Forces should be treated the same as other Crown Servants.
It is apparent that provision of a pension still plays a huge part in the decision made by many to continue a career in the Service. Many Serving and non-Serving family members made clear that the current pension scheme(s) is one of the last real benefits of a Service career and many felt any changes to their pension would be ‘the last straw’.
“Given that we are a mobile military family with young children, I am currently a stay at home mum. This decision means that I will have a very low pension when I retire and we will be fully reliant on my husband’s pension. We have made decisions such as this, based on our knowledge of what his pension entitlement would be. With these changes, the worry is that we will find ourselves worse off in retirement than we had anticipated, without the opportunity to do anything about it!”
“Any future pension changes will only make the RAF less attractive as a career and thus the calibre of intake will decrease making us a less effective force.”
“I think putting your life on the line for 38 years is worthy of a pension not to be messed with!”
“The pension is probably the one good financial asset to military life and this to me is my X-Factor. The excellent pension at the end of my career is what makes the turbulence of Service life worth it. Now they are going to inevitably reduce this which I cannot see as anything other than a kick while we are down.”
“There is still a misconception that we do not contribute to our pensions. As our pay scales are abated to allow funds to be added to our pension scheme, that is not the case, and this message needs to be made clear.”
“If we do have to make any contributions to our pension then I believe that we should have a higher pay increase to help compensate for this.”
“I believe the pension age should be increased from 55 to 60 years. It is extremely difficult to get a job the older a person is and as people are living longer, are fitter than they ever were and will have to pay towards their pensions, the age of retirement should be lifted to reflect this. This would fall into line with other Crown Servant pension schemes.”
“I understand how privileged we are with both AFPS 75 and 05. However, with the current financial climate, I would rather make a contribution than lose the benefits I expected when joining.”
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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