Pension News 08/04

PENSION NEWS

 

PNPF AND THE SECRETARIAT

By the time you read this article we will have been at Sevenoaks for almost a year –

I know they say time flies the older you get, but this is ridiculous. I am very pleased to say that a few of our pensioners have found us and dropped in. We run an open door policy so if you are in the area please pop in.

ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2003

The Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts for 2003 were sent to all active members in July. If you have not received your copy and would like one please contact the Secretariat and we will get a copy off to you pronto.

EARLY PAYMENT OF DEFERRED PENSIONS

At the meeting held on 11th May 2004 the Trustees amended Rule 22 to allow the early payment (i.e. before age 60 for existing members and age 65 for new joiners) of deferred pensions. In addition deferred pensions taken before normal retirement will receive a pro rata increase for the first year in payment.

CERTIFICATES OF EXISTENCE

Following the annual audit of the 2003 accounts the auditors recommended that the Fund carry out a pensioner verification exercise and in April Certificates of Existence were sent out with the P60s.  I know that none of us (me included) like to complete what we consider superfluous forms, so a very big thank you for those of you who have returned your completed forms. When the exercise was carried out in 1997 we had a 100% return rate and your co-operation in maintaining this unblemished record is greatly appreciated.

P60s FOR YEAR ENDING 5 APR 2004

The P60s for the 2003/04 tax year were sent out in April and if you have not received your copy please notify the Secretariat. Under current legislation we are unable to issue duplicate copies, but we can confirm the year to date figures in a letter for Inland Revenue purposes.

CHANGING THE RETIREMENT AGE

Having been away on holiday for the past few weeks I have come back to .nd that the current hot topic in pensions is the issue of the retirement age – should it be 65 or 70 and whether it should be compulsory.

In the media this issue has provoked headlines such as ‘work till you drop’ and ‘millions have retirement plans ruined’. Yet Alan Pickering, a partner at Watson Wyatt believes it is a “win-win” situation and a positive step for everyone, as individuals need not be pensioned off in their prime and it takes some pressure off the pension system. As having a compulsory age of 70, but paying benefits at age 65 could help employees mix pension and paid income while they gradually work down from full-time employment.

For those of us who do not want to work longer (most of us) the freedom to carry on working does not mean that we have to.  The real issue is being able to afford to retire when we want to.

COMPUTER UPGRADE

At the time of writing this article the Secretariat is having its computer equipment upgraded to drag us into the 21st century. I sincerely hope that by the time you read this all the glitches have been cleared and we are back to our usually efficient selves and that no-one has been inconvenienced by this upgrade.

PENSIONS BILL

The Pensions Bill is currently making its way through Parliament and should receive Royal assent in November at the latest. During the course of its passage through Parliament it has been subject to quite a few amendments particularly in respect to strengthening the security of pensions. Once the details are finalised I am sure the Bill will be the subject of future articles in this magazine, as its proposals will affect us all.

MEMBERSHIP STATISTICS

Although membership and beneficiary statistics are published in the Pilots’ National Pension Fund Annual report and Accounts, it might be of some interest if I were to include them from time to time in these articles.

The position at the end of January 2004, updated with the changes over the following three months are shown below.  Enjoy the summer!

Debbie Marten

Debbie@pnpf.co.uk

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