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[Twotanks 0]

Hi - can anyone shed some light on this for me? I retired at 49 after 30 years in 2007. When I turn 55 in about 18 months time, what way will the index linking work? Will it be based on the yearly sum I was awarded on retirement, or on what it should have been had I stayed to 55?

TIA

[999tommo 1,297]

AFAIK, whatever annual pension you are receiving when turning 55 then becomes index linked. This used to follow the Retail Price Index (RPI) but now follows the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is usually worth less than the RPI.

[Penbwlch 810]

It used to be based on your pay when you retired, not what it would have been today. The effect was that you got no benefit from anything until you became 55. Times change, so just hope that has changed although somehow I doubt it.

[Twotanks 0]

Thanks for the replies - I was wondering if the accumulated RPI figures and the most recent CPI figures from the time I retired would be added to my pension and then I would get the yearly rise as per normal? I have heard on the rumour mill that this would be the case but I've never had it confirmed.

[Penbwlch 810]

Well, mine didn't. At least. not prior to my 55th birthday. The sum from which my pension was calculated stayed still. After that, the pension rose in relation to inflation. Of course, things may have changed in the last few years but I would not rely on it.

[Old 'n' Sweaty 88]

On my resettlement course the information was that, whilst there is no effect on index linking until you reach 55, the pension is tracked at the index linked rate so that when you reach 55 it is increased to what it would have been if it had been index linked and then increased annually after that.

That was current as of last year but I have yet to test it as 55 is a little way off yet!

[Old 'n' Sweaty 88]

I have, this morning, received my final pension details and a 'Retirement Pack'

I quote 'When you do reach 55 years of age, unless increases have already been applied, the cumulative percentage increases since your retirement are put into payment the month following your 55th birthday'

So, as I thought, unless you are retired on an ill health pension, where it is indexed linked immediately, you get the cumulative increases added to your pension at 55. Well that is, of course, until they change it!

Hope this helps.