I have to say, Carole has had a cold this week and that does not seem to have improved her mood. Listening to her phone calls with colleagues, it seems that she is responding well to the fact that recent civil service retirees are not getting their pension benefits paid on time.
Your reaction to this statement may be, “What a heartless woman,” but it turns out this is far from the truth. Apparently, for years the “small people” in pension schemes have been suffering a similar situation, receiving poor administration from providers and administrators when the time comes to take the retirement income they have strived for. Unfortunately, to date no one has taken much notice… except the retiree who needs the money to which they are entitled. She thinks that now government employees are suffering the same fate, something may be done. Let’s hope so; then she might cheer up and give me some of those nice crunchy cat treats.
I was interested to learn from my eavesdropping that the reason for the delays is not all down to poor administration: a great deal of it is because of the extreme complexity of pension legislation in the UK. Retiree benefits often have to be tested against numerous allowances and restrictions at the time when the benefits are due to be paid out.
Simplification of pensions legislation is needed. It would help savers understand their benefits and receive them on time. It would also mean that administrators should be able to provide their services at a lower fee level. The costs for pension administration are high because of this complexity; these costs are sometimes met by the employer, but more often by the scheme member, and most probably have a direct or indirect effect on the final value of the pension benefits.
I’m not sure if Carole will pension me off, but if she does, I hope I get my cat food for life on time.