Complaints against officers

[marvinhagler2014 1]

Hi all,

 

I'm recent recruit and have signed up to the 2015 Care Pension Scheme.

 

Are there any calculators or tools to get an accurate estimate for my retirement?

 

I'm 28 and obviously I know it's a long way off but the information we have received thus far on the scheme is minimal....

[rikshawallah 644]

As far as I'm aware, there is not one single force that will commit to a pension forecast for a career average pension scheme. Whether that changes is anyone's guess, and I have no idea whether there is a legal requirement to do so. (I know they must provide a statement of benefits, but whether that includes a forecast I don't know.) 

[Reasonable Man + 1,231]

Should everyone not get an annual pension statement? I do - for my second pension that I am paying into. Just had this year's, on line from the pension provider. It tells me how much I would get if I retired now and an estimate of how much I would get if I retired in the future. I can put in any date up to my 65th birthday.

I thought it was 'the law' to give pension contributers such a thing.

Really shows the value of a pension. By playing with the dates I find that if I work an extra year I will get all those contributions back in less than four years. As I plan to live at least 25 years after retirement I'm looking at a much better return than if I stuffed it in my mattress.

[marvinhagler2014 1]

Should everyone not get an annual pension statement? I do - for my second pension that I am paying into. Just had this year's, on line from the pension provider. It tells me how much I would get if I retired now and an estimate of how much I would get if I retired in the future. I can put in any date up to my 65th birthday.

I thought it was 'the law' to give pension contributers such a thing.

Really shows the value of a pension. By playing with the dates I find that if I work an extra year I will get all those contributions back in less than four years. As I plan to live at least 25 years after retirement I'm looking at a much better return than if I stuffed it in my mattress.

 

Yes mate I believe I will get a statement of some sort but I'm not even a year into my career yet!

 

Maybe I'm worrying a bit too much about it, 32 years to go yet!

[Sheds 28]

Marvin,

 

It will obviously depend on whether you get promoted at any stage or not (and also how quickly you get up to the top pay scale for a PC). If you retire at 60 then you will have 32 years service - go anytime before 55 and 60 and you obviously will build up less increments and also lose around 4% per year that you go early (so if you go at 55 you will lose 20% and only have earned 27/55ths).

 

If you stay as a PC then, at 60, you will have 'earned' 32/55.3 ths. You will then need to times this by your career average pay - so if you get to the top of the scale (in today's money around 36k) but you take 8 years to get there earning between 21k and 36k then you will need to factor that in. For sake of simplicity this may bring your career average down to 34k.

 

So it's 32/55.3 X 34,000 = £19,674.

 

Its not really worth commuting under the new scheme (you only get £12 for every £1 you commute - under the 1987 scheme it was around £20) but that will be a decision for you at the time. Also, if you do climb the ranks then you will need to factor this into the calculations - e.g. a PC for 10 years averaging 28K, a Sgt for 10 years averaging 43k, an Insp for final 12 averaging 51k would mean a career average of around 42k (32/55.3 ths of this) = £24303.

 

Bear in mind also you don't pay NI on retirement income and obviously won't be paying 14% pension contributions. If/when you get to 60 you will be pleasantly surprised how good the pension is - that is, unless/until the govt change the rules again and/or compulsory redundancy is brought in !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!