Railway pensions

[C J Snarzell]

Afternoon

As I'm very interested in railway employment I'm curious to know about pensions.

I have 15 years worth of police pension but clearly if I joined a TOC I would want to start a new pension to run alongside the old one in years to come.

I believe the current police pension ranges between 12-15% of the officer's annual income. Younger officers don't actual pay as much as their older experienced colleagues as the length of service changed a few years ago from 30 years to 35 years to qualify for a full pension. This again has changed and officers are fighting the government over changes that were implemented during the Windsor review which took place a few years ago when Theresa May was Home Secretary.

Does the standard pension rate differ from one TOC to another - I'm talking about what percentage of the employees annual salary is taken out each month. Also is there any given age limit on retirement on the railways. I assume there is a limit on driver ages. I came into contact with a ticket barrier bloke for Northern at one of the Manchester stations recently and he was easily in his 60s.

People are generally working longer into their 70s now - maybe this is by choice or because of financial commitments but I wanted to find out a bit more about what pensions are like on the railways.

Regards

C J

 

[whoosh]

The percentage rate you pay for your contributions will depend on which TOC you join. They are all different sections of the Railway Pension Scheme. The full pension is based on 40 years service retiring at 62. Some sections of the scheme let you transfer pensions in from previous employment, which would buy you x-number of years in the Railway Pension Scheme, some don't. Some let more than 40 years of contributions take place to give a larger pension, some don't.

Some TOCs have agreed to an 'Employer Justified Retirement Age' after the union has balloted it's members and they voted for it, so you are forced to retire at the State Pension age, some haven't.

As you can see, it all depends on which TOC you join.

 

[Stigy]

Afternoon

As I'm very interested in railway employment I'm curious to know about pensions.

I have 15 years worth of police pension but clearly if I joined a TOC I would want to start a new pension to run alongside the old one in years to come.

I believe the current police pension ranges between 12-15% of the officer's annual income. Younger officers don't actual pay as much as their older experienced colleagues as the length of service changed a few years ago from 30 years to 35 years to qualify for a full pension. This again has changed and officers are fighting the government over changes that were implemented during the Windsor review which took place a few years ago when Theresa May was Home Secretary.

Does the standard pension rate differ from one TOC to another - I'm talking about what percentage of the employees annual salary is taken out each month. Also is there any given age limit on retirement on the railways. I assume there is a limit on driver ages. I came into contact with a ticket barrier bloke for Northern at one of the Manchester stations recently and he was easily in his 60s.

People are generally working longer into their 70s now - maybe this is by choice or because of financial commitments but I wanted to find out a bit more about what pensions are like on the railways.

Regards

C J

I’m no expert, however can confirm it’s a 40 year scheme, with no set upper limit as to how long you can work as long as you remain medically fit (even for drivers). My 40 years will take me up to 63 years old, however I’ll probably look at retiring at 60 based on the fact that in the grand scheme, losing 3-years won’t be financially crippling.

Obviously depending on how old you are when you join, you won’t want to/be capable of doing the full 40 years, but I believe you can pay more in to it, as well as paying in to BRASS schemes to enhance what you get out when you come to retire.

 

[bionic]

BRASS is very popular among drivers of a certain age. Some of them work so much OT to pay into it that they'll probably be dead before they ever see it!

 

[Wba0986]

What are the pay in %'s for the pension?

 

[Dav1d]

For virgin it's 5% and employer pays 7%