Vocal Voices

Had a letter this morning from my former employer about my pension.

Evidently they have not been paying me enough since I turned 65 in November 1999. So my monthly pension payment will include the payments which should have been made. This is enough for at least three more cruises The error was due to the calculation for my Guaranteed Minimum Pension regulations. I don' understand them.

Will have to watch I do not have to pay the top rate of income tax!!

Woo Hoo!! That is good news. Where do you think you will cruise to?

Wow, that is a lovely surprise Cruiser
I worked in pensions, although not on individual ones for long - the Gmp calculations are a complete nightmare

Can you not have all that's owed on one go? - worth asking, if they haven't mentioned it

Oh gosh how lovely!!! It might be nice to have in a lump, as Di suggests, if they will allow

A round-the-world-cruise perhaps???

What a lovely surprise Cruiser.

Di I worked in the pensions section of the DHSS for a few months - the numbers were not my thing and they soon moved me back to the public counter

Lovely surprise, enjoy it

The lump sum was included with the monthly statement at the end of March and is now safely in my bank earning some interest.
The letter confirmed that this is what would happen. I have never queried the calculation as it is good enough to let me go on cruises and have other enjoyment.
Have got four cruises booked for this year and have now booked one for next year to the Caribbean. Managed to get it in before our visa for America needs renewing.

Oh that's ok then Cruiser

I'm really good with figures and calculations but you really do need a quiet spot and a whole day for some of those gmp ones. The trouble is they've changed a lot of times, and so if you've worked a normal length of time you come under about 6 different sets of regulations, and the gmp has to be calculated for each - manually - for each year of work, divided by 365 and multiplied by how many days of that tax year you worked under that regulation. Then another set of regulations applies as to how much is from each set...oh and almost each one increases by a different percentage each year, but if increase x is less than increase y, then ummm, something happens

The original calculation would no doubt have been double or triple-checked, by different people, but it is understandable that every now and then something is wrong.
It wouldn't really be anything much on the actual 'main' part of anyone's pension, but the gmp bit, yes, it's more than a nightmare