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BT Pension
Scheme
News |
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Based
around the Offer made to a member, a BT pensioner has developed a
Spreadsheet Calculator. Offer figures can be entered, to create an
output showing total and actual pension figures at various ages for
whatever CPI rate you choose. The Spreadsheet file is Password
protected and opening and using the spreadsheet will signify your
acceptance of Conditions of Use and get
Password Then Click Spreadsheet
If
you do use the Calculator please let me have your comments on its
usefulness, Accuracy etc.
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News and Issues
A warning about your BT Pension.
By Trevor Conway Facebook group BT Past & Present 27 July 2015
I currently receive a BT Pension and in June I receive, from
Pensions branch, an attestation form which basically requires you to prove who
you are and that you are still entitled to receive a pension. The warning on the
form was "YOUR PENSION MAY BE SUSPENDED IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE AND RETURN THIS
FORM" or words to that effect. I duly completed and returned the form in the
pre-paid envelope. Getting near the end of the month and since they hadn't
contacted me I rang the pensions group to make sure the form had been received
and my pension wouldn't be suspended. The form had of course gone missing and to
cut a long story short, after receiving that months payment, my pension was
suspended. I have since completed a new attestation form and confirmed by
telephone that it has been received and my pension reinstated so I'm hopeful it
will be paid this month. It's worth noting that BT Pension (Accenture) at no
point keep me informed and if I hadn't of rang my pension may not have been
paid. The moral of the story is follow up any requests from Pensions Branch and
send letters or forms back to them via recorded delivery.
Pension Increase April 2015
We should soon receive
our pension payment for April, so what will the increase be? The CPI measure of
inflation for year to September 2014 was 1.2% compared to the RPI of 2.3%. BT
pensions were always increased using the RPI Figure but this changed in about
2010 when the UK Government decreed that the CPI index would replace the RPI
index for Public Sector Pensions.
BT Pensions Trustees
saw this as a great opportunity to minimise the pension fund deficit. In effect
us pensioners helping to pay off the deficit.
So we should all be
getting an increase of 1.2% but not on the full amount our pension because of
the incomprehensible Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) Rule. Having had a little
whinge! I say a "thank you every" month when I get that injection of cash into
my bank account.
Click
Here for a BTPS explanation of the effect of GMP on Pension
Increases.
A member has emailed me with his
explanation of GMP which may be useful to other members, see below.
" I find that trying to work out the
increase in my BT pension from the example given by the BT Pension Group is
incomprehensible. I have my own system which is very easy. You will need your
new tax years Pensions notification from the Department for Work and Pensions
and also last years. For simplicity I will use nice round figures.
Suppose your pension is £20000 per annum and the CPI is 2%. This means that your
pension increase is £400. Now look at the letters from the DWP regarding the COD
(contracted out deduction) for Serps. Suppose this was £78 last year and is £80
this year, that makes a difference of £2 per week. Multiply this by 52 for weeks
in the year making a total of £104. Deduct this from your new total pension of
£20400 (£20000 + £400) which is £20400 less £104 = £20296. Therefore £20296 will
be paid by BT and the remaining £104 paid with your Old Age Pension. In fact if
you had some service after 1998 you could get slightly more than £20296 paid
directly by the BT Pension Group due to some change in the Serps rules in 1998.
All this of course is only for people in receipt of the Old Age Pension. If you
have yet to receive this the whole of your increase will be paid by the BT
Pension Group."
Posted by Frank Allen previously of Sales
Division West Midlands 19 April 2015
A reader of this
website has emailed me recently to tell me about a little known issue with
Increases in the GMP related to the new Single Pensions that come into effect
from 6 April 2016. In fact, increases to GMP
will not be paid. to those who retire after 06 April 2016 It seems that
those affected have not yet been informed by DWP/Government, or the Pension
funds including BT Pensions.Click
Here For more details
This information is shown to flag up issues which may arise and that neither this
Website or its Owner accepts responsibility for the consequences of using
this information and we expressly exclude liability for any inaccuracies or
errors to the fullest extent permitted by law. Users of this information are
recommended to carry out their own research to satisfy themselves of the facts.
Your
BT Pensions Trustee Newsletter For Pensioners 2014
This Newsletter has recently been
sent to pensioners and includes
-
Welcome message from the Trustee
Chairman
-
Keeping your Information up to
date
-
The Scheme's Funding Statement
-
Financial Summary
-
News Round-up
-
Keeping in touch with the Pension
Scheme
If you have mislaid or
discarded your personal copy of the News letter it has been reproduced in PDF
format and is
Available Here
BT Press
Release 30 January 2015 - Result of Pension Funding and Valuation
The funding
deficit at June 2014 was £7.0Billion
BT agrees to a 16
year recovery plan.
£2.0bn will be
paid in over the next 3 years.
To read the press
release in full Click herehttp://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/ShowArticle.cfm?ArticleID=B7BD6FCA-B49D-4ABD-A888-CD3221222E8B
Crown
Guarantee of BT Pensions Upheld by Court of Appeal
It was
reported in the TImes Newspaper that the government has lost a long-running
court battle to walk away from any responsibility for the company pensions of BT
workers who joined the scheme after the telecoms giant was privatised in 1984.
The Court
of Appeal ruled yesterday that the so-called crown guarantee, issued to BT at
the time of privatisation, covered almost all staff hired since then.
John
Ralfe, a pensions expert, said: "This ruling confirms that if BT were ever
to go bust, taxpayers are on the hook to continue to pay BT’s pensions. The
present value of these payments is a whopping £24 billion."
Mr Ralfe
has calculated that only 7,000, or 2 per cent of the scheme’s 344,000 members,
are excluded from the crown guarantee because they were employed by
participating companies.
BT has
the UK’s largest private sector defined benefit scheme, which traditionally
offers more generous retirement plans than the modern defined contribution
pensions.
Mr Ralfe
estimates that the BT scheme has assets valued at £40 billion against predicted
liabilities of £64 billion. The pension scheme had a deficit of £5.6 billion
at the last valuation in March this year.
However,
in the same judgment the court upheld an appeal by the government on the basis
of which any future liability to the BT scheme would be carried out. The
taxpayer will no longer need to pay for the scheme as a whole should the FTSE
100 telecoms group go into administration. Instead it will have an obligation to
pay deficit contributions similar to BT’s own.
Paul
Spencer, chairman of BT’s pension trustees, said in a statement: "It is
important to remember that the crown guarantee is only relevant in the highly
remote circumstances that BT was to become insolvent. The scheme continues to
have strong ongoing support from BT in relation to the scheme and its
members."
The
department for culture, media and sport had no immediate comment on whether it
would appeal the case to the Supreme Court. "We are studying the
judgment," a spokesman said.
2014 © 2014 Times Newspapers Ltd. All rights
reserved Posted
23 July 2014
BT
Pension Scheme Agrees Deal to Protect it Against Longevity
Dow Jones
Institutional News, Friday July 4th, 2014
Copyright
2014, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
LONDON--BT
Group PLC (BT.A.LN) said Friday its pension scheme trustee has agreed a deal to
protect it against its members living longer than currently expected. Under the
deal, the scheme's exposure to longevity risk will be transferred to a new
insurance subsidiary, which will be reinsured with The Prudential Insurance
Company of America, a U.S. based life insurance company.
The
arrangement covers over 25% of pension scheme's total exposure to improvements
in longevity, covering about 16 billion pounds of its liabilities at October
2013, the pension scheme said.
These
arrangements will not require additional contributions to be made by BT Group.
Write to
Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com (END)
Dow Jones Newswires
Cost
of Transferring BT Pension Abroad
A BT
Member living in Australia has written about Bank charges applied every month
when his BT pension is transferred to Australia.His email is copied below and he
would like to hear from anyone who has similar experiences contact via billrees@nexusbroadband.co.uk
Hello
Bill,
I am ex
bt having worked in a various branches within the Edinburgh Telephone Area for
nineteen and a half years before emigrating to Australia in 1981.
I have
been in receipt of a pension from Bt and a UK DHSS pension for a number of years
having retired from the work force in 1997.
At the
moment Bt have an arrangement with the Royal Bank of Scotland for which I am
being charged three pounds fifty pence once a month by RBS to transfer my
pension into my Australian bank account.
I am also
in receipt of a UK DHSS pension which is transferred once a month by UK DHSS via
Citibank Europe into my Australian bank account, Citibank do not charge for this
transfer.
I have
not approached Bt about this unjust anomaly yet, I thought I would like to hear
from any other ex Bt workers who find themselves in similar circumstances,
support for change being influenced by numbers.
I would
appreciate very much if you can publish these details so that any interested
parties can communicate with me on the subject, I know of no other ex Bt
employees in Australia who I could contact.
Kind
regards Stan
Posted
2014
A
Success Story
A
BT Retiree, David Wyatt writes from N. Zealand to BT Pensioners Reconnect…..
I'm hoping that you are able to assist me I worked at BT for approx 17 yrs
and emigrated in 1982.
Over
the years I have lost contact and receive no updates from BT Pension scheme
.... the only email address that I had for contacting them was : peopleline.hrservices@accenture.com> I
have forwarded a number of emails but receive no response
I
wish to notify them of my change of address in New Zealand, and also request a statement
of the value my benefits.
It
would be appreciated if you would acknowledge receipt of this email and advise
of how to contact the BT Pension scheme.
BT
Pensioners Reconnect passed on the enquiry to Accenture and …… The retiree
has confirmed that he has received a response from the Accenture team who have
advised that he was due to draw his pension at Age 60 and he is now hoping to
receive his entitlement for the past two years.
Note:
The above Email address is incorrect, this is correct peopleline.pensions@accenture.com
New Voluntary Pensions Increase Option. (PIE)
Some of our Pensioners have received letters from Kevin Boyle Head of BT
Pensions about a "New Voluntary Pensions Increase Option." The letter
doesn't tell us anything except that you will get further information. The
result, judging by enquiries I have received, has been to cause un-necessary
concern and perhaps a little panic. The advice I have given is simply to put it
out of mind until more details are available and that what ever is offered it is
Optional so one can opt for no change.
This Pensions increase Option is Also referred to elsewhere as "Pensions
Increase Exchange"(PIE) and by doing an internet search for Pensions
Increase Exchange more information can be
found.
Posted 26 May 13
See Daily Telegraph Comment click
on link below: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/10095284/Should-you-turn-down-a-30pc-pension-rise.html
Publicising BT Pensioners Reconnect
The BT Pension Scheme Trustees were approached by letter seeking their help
to publicise this Website through their correspondence with BT
pensioners and or by links and references in the BT Pension Scheme Website. The
Pension Scheme is the one organisation that has records of and access to, all BT pensioners and
as such it is uniquely placed to help promote a useful service to its pensioners
and at virtually no
cost.
The Website is quite clearly a service that pensioners
want and I felt sure that the Scheme would understand what the site sets
out to achieve, and that they would be very willing to help, as it is very much in the
interests of its members. However they have declined to help in any way.
I am of course,
deeply disappointed particularly as they cite no reason for their decision,
other than to use the time honoured, weak and meaningless excuse "that it is not
their policy....!". Click
to View Correspondence
Pension Increase 2013 Member's Enquiry See
details
Pensions Increase
2013 - Observations
This is the time of year when we are informed of the BT pension increase for
2013/14. My notice of increase arrived 24 April and as expected the increase was
2.2% based on the September 2012 CPI measure of inflation.
This compares with:
The RPI measure of inflation of 2.6%
The State Pension Increase for 2013/14 of 2.6%
Cable & Wireless Pension Scheme increase of 3.1%.
.Read
More
Click
Here for a BTPS explanation of the effect of GMP on Pension
Increases.
RPI or CPI
Are we being let down by BT and the Pension
Scheme Trustees or both?
BT Pension Scheme Trustees have not made a convincing case,
in fact no case whatsoever, for the legality of adopting the CPI
instead of the RPI. The
trustees have not detailed the specific Scheme Rules which they say allows them
to change what we all believed was contractual and legally binding.
A Minister is reported as saying that there is no intention to make private
pension schemes conform to the change to CPI measure.
It is my belief that it is convenient and financially attractive to The Pension
Scheme (The Trustees,) to BT, and in particular to BT Shareholders, in fact it
will reduce the BT pension fund deficit by £2.5 Billion (and that effectively
comes out of your pension) and reduces BT’s liability to the Pension Fund. The
deficit is the responsibility of the Trustees and BT. It is not the
responsibility of Schemes pensioners to fund the deficit
Note how the BT share price increased following the announcement and in due
course note how the dividend improves.
RPI/CPI
Court of Appeal Decision
1.
The
Judicial Review:
Various
public service unions and interest groups challenged (by judicial review) the
Government's decision to use the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in
place of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) as the index for
determining pension increases for public sector schemes. The judgment in this
judicial review was handed down on 2 December 2011. In summary, the court
rejected the unions’ challenge and found that the Government had not acted
unlawfully in making this change. An appeal against this judgement was
then made.
2.
House of Commons Debate on the Issue:
The
RPI/CPI e-petition attracted more than 100,000 signatures but when the issue was
debated in the House of Commons on 1st March it was lost by 232 votes to 33.
3.
The
Appeal:
On
20th March, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgement on the appeal against
the outcome of the judicial review. The final appeal has been defeated.
It will now be considered whether there is any possibility for a further appeal
to the Supreme Court.
Comment:
All
of the above proceedings seem to show that the Government, since it is
responsible for Pension payments, can legally decide how Public Sector pension
increases will be calculated.
Reading
the Court of Appeal Judgement, my impression was that the main considerations
were, which of the two indices RPI or CPI, was most representative of actual
inflation and which was most suitable for Treasury purposes.
The effect of the switch to CPI on pensioners pensions did not seem to be a
consideration.
I came to the conclusion that neither of the two indices were a good measure for
Inflation related to pensioners purchases but can’t see that a Pensioners
Purchases Index (PPI) would ever be considered.
The three processes 1; 2 & 3 above all apply to Public Sector Pensions and
have nothing to do with BT pensions, although had they been successful, it would
have provided a platform to attack the BT Pension Scheme.
So
I
believe that the issue of BTPS adopting the CPI measure of inflation should
still be challenged.
Who
will take up that challenge? Logically it should be the Unions representing BT
employees. The CWU has already expressed it's intention to Challenge BT and the
BTPS on the RPI/CPI issue -See http://www.cwu.org/defending-bt-pensions.html
Posted 26 March 2012
Click
on links below to see what various commentators and politicians have said
12M Private Pensions Could be Slashed As Inflation Link as Axed Daily Mail 08 Dec 2010.doc
Private pensions to be slashed by 25%: Rule changes 'could hit 12million'
Companies denied power to switch pension schemes to less generous CPI
The Private Occupational Pensions
Rip Off
A number of small shareholders, who
are also former employees and Tony Cox, former Public Affairs director at
Openreach, will challenge BT at it's AGM.-
Daily Telegraph on
line 29 July 2011
Other Organisations Resisting the Imposition of RPI
www.seniorsnetwork.co.uk/newsletter/
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1535
National Ferderation of Occupational Pensions:
www.nfop.org.uk/
Pensions Increase 2013
- Observations
This is the time of year when we are
informed of the BT pension increase for 2013/14. My notice of increase arrived
24 April and as expected the increase was 2.2% based on the September 2012 CPI
measure of inflation.
This compares with
-
The
RPI measure of inflation of 2.6
-
the
State Pension Increase for 2013/14 of 2.6%
-
Cable
& Wireless Pension Scheme increase of 3.1%
We all know that our BT Pension was increased by the RPI Measure until 2011,
when it was changed to CPI, which is generally lower than RPI.
This change means that in the 2012/13 increase BT pensioners lost out by
0.4% and by 0.4% for 2013/4. This may not seem very much but because of
compounded percentages, it has been estimated that a BT pensioner over a period
of 20 years could loose around £40K, but the Pension fund and by association
BT, will save over £2Billion.
This change to rules was determined by
the Trustees probably under pressure from BT Board. It was not mandatory on the
Trustees to follow the Government’s lead to adopt the CPI measure. The
trustees however make it appear that they had no option but to follow the
Government policy.
In our notice of increase they use a
Phrase “pension currently increases every April in the way that public sector
pensions are increased by the Government.” In fact, BT pensions are increased
in the way that BT Trustees have decreed! Which follows what happens in the
public sector.
British Airways (BA) like BT/POT, was once government
owned but their pension scheme has not adopted the CPI measure.
There is nothing we can do about it because it has been unsuccessfully
challenged in the courts, but we
can whinge about it and I think we should know the truth of the situation.
In the final analysis I am grateful for my pension and whatever increases
I get.
Click
Here for Pension Scheme explanation of the GMP effect on Pension Increases (pdf
File)
Pension Scheme Enquiries
Peopleline are open between 8.30am
and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday. If you are
calling from
within the UK, please telephone
0800
731 4747 if you are a BT employee, or
0800 731 1919 if you
are no longer employed by BT.
If you would rather put your enquiry in
writing, please write to:
BT
Pension Services
Accenture
HR Services Limited
Venture
House, Venture Way
Chesterfield S41
8NR.
Or by Email peopleline.pensions@accenture.com
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