More financial assistance
After five long years of campaigning, lobbying, and naked protests 140,000
people who lost some or all of their company pension when their employer went
out of business will finally get compensation that they find acceptable.
The people affected all worked for companies with good pensions which promised to pay a proportion of their salary once they had retired related to their length of service. Some expected to retire on half pay or better from the age of 60. But when their employer went out of business or closed down the pension scheme they found the money in it was not enough to meet that pension promise. Some lost everything. Many had to carry on working. Some have died before the final settlement was announced just before Christmas.
Saga Magazine was one of the first to publicise this problem in November 2003 and Saga has lent its support to the campaign for change ever since. The Government’s initial offer would have given very little compensation to just 15,000 of those affected. But over the years the campaign
, backed by court action and a highly critical report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman Ann Abraham, has finally forced the Government to change its mind and compensate everyone to a decent level.Under the new plans people whose scheme collapsed between April 1997 and April 2005 will get the same compensation as those who schemes collapsed more recently and are covered by the separate Pension Protection Fund which is paid for by the pensions industry.
Under what Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Peter Hain called this "just and final settlement" the Financial Assistance Scheme will now pay 90% of the expected benefits of the pension. Previously it paid only 80% of what it called ‘core’ benefits, estimated to be worth about 65% of the full benefits due. Pensions earned from 1997 will be raised with inflation up to 2.5% a year and the £26,000 cap on the pension payable will also have its value protected. The minimum age to get the pension will be cut from 65 to the scheme’s pension age and members will also be able to draw a tax-free lump sum. Another 11,000 people whose pension scheme was wound up but whose employer remained solvent will now be included in the scheme.
Dr Ros Altmann who has campaigned tirelessly for the pensioners said "Finally we have won - it is unbelievable. I am delighted. These people really deserve it. It will allow them to get their lives back."
The priority now is to get the money quickly to the tens of thousands of people who have already reached pension age. Andrew Parr, who has led the campaign and lost a great deal of his own pension
, says the Government is "hoping to get payments out around the middle of the year. We’ll be keeping a very careful eye on them to see that they do actually stick with that. If they don’t, we may well be out at the next Labour party conference."Naked of course.
Put your shirt on it
Did you buy an England or Manchester United football shirt in 2000 or 2001?
If you did and you still have it you could get £10 just by taking it back to any
JJB Sports store.
The deal has been agreed after JJB Sports and six other retailers were fined for running an unlawful cartel to fix the price of these shirts. JJB Sports was fined £6.7 million for its part in this cartel and it has settled legal action by the consumer organisation Which? by agreeing to make modest repayments to customers who bought the shirts which originally cost £39.99 each.
You can get a payment of £10 if you have the shirt itself with an intact manufacturer’s label. If you no longer have the shirt then you will still be paid £10 if you can produce a till receipt or a bank or credit card statement showing the purchase. If you have a shirt without a label you will get £5. As the shirts do not indicate where they were bought JJB Sports has confirmed to Saga Magazine it will make the refunds on all shirts wherever you bought them; that also applies to the proof of purchase which does not have to relate to JJB Sports. The shirt or proof of purchase will be indelibly marked and the deadline to take action is 9 February 2009. Only certain shirts and dates of purchase are in the scheme. More details at
www.which.co.uk and www.jjbsports.comStamps rise
The price of posting a letter rises by up to 4p next month. So it is well
worth buying your 1st and 2nd class stamps before the
price rise. Stamps marked 1st or 2nd can be used at any
time – and that applies to the new 1st and 2nd stamps for
large letters too. The inflation busting rises are supposed to stem the losses
on individual mail items. You can avoid them by buying before 7 April. If you
buy your basic 2nd class stamps now for a year the saving is
equivalent to a return of 12.5%! Taxfree of course!
|
Stamp prices |
|||
|
Now |
From Monday 7 April |
Rise |
|
|
1st Class Letter up to 100g |
34p |
36p |
5.9% |
|
2nd Class Letter up to 100g |
24p |
27p |
12.5% |
|
1st Class Large Letter up to 100g |
48p |
52p |
8.3% |
|
2nd Class Large Letter up to 100g |
40p |
42p |
5% |
All right for some
New pension rules that started in April 2006 mean that someone who earns
£460,000 a year can invest that much in a pension before 6 April and get full
tax relief – worth £184,000 – on that sum. The maximum amount that can be put
into a pension scheme is capped at your earnings for the year. But for high
earners there is an upper limit however much you earn. In 2007/08 that limit is
£225,000 and that rises to £235,000 in 2008/09. You might think that was enough.
But an odd loophole means that someone investing before the end of the tax year
could actually put in £460,000 using up the allowance for both this year and
next. Although the maximum is fixed at your earnings for the year, the money
paid in to the pension does not actually have to be from earnings. So any
capital that is available from an investment or inheritance can be used to pay
into the fund and earn full tax relief. So a lump sum of £460,000 could be paid
in to the pension and the lucky top earner would then be given back £184,000 in
tax relief on their earnings leaving a net contribution of £276,000
This massive subsidy from the taxpayer is in sharp contrast to the small payments that will be made into the new Personal Accounts – the name currently given to the new national pension scheme which is expected to start in April 2012. Contributions to that will be capped at £3600 a year and for most people less than half that amount will be paid in each year when the scheme is fully in operation in 2014. Of the average £1500 a year that will go into the scheme, barely £200 will come from taxpayers. Hardly enough to provide a decent pension in retirement.
Under the microscope
Many treasures lurk in attics and garages and scientific instruments are one
of the less well known categories. If you come across an old telescope, sundial,
microscope, or compass don’t bin it. They are worth money. James Hyslop is the
Science Specialist at Christie’s and dreams of finding "a fine 18th
century Portuguese mariner’s compass. But there are many navigation instruments
– octants, sextants, or astrolabes (star maps engraved in brass) all of which
are highly desirable."
More realistic – and commonly found – are microscopes or telescopes from the 19th century. "By a good maker – George Adams, Smith, or Beck & Powell – a microscope can be £5000 or £6000 depending on condition and accessories with it. Telescopes too. All 19th century telescopes were made by about five London makers but unless they have that name on them, usually near the eyepiece, you’re talking £600-£800. With the name it’s more like £2000 to £4000. Quite frequently people find things like this and have no idea how valuable they may be."
One extraordinary item, literally found in an attic recently, was a 19th century globe of the planet Mars. The owner thought it was quite modern – perhaps made by NASA – but It is expected to fetch up to £2000 at Christie’s next sale of scientific instruments on 23 April. James is happy to look at illustrations or descriptions of any scientific instruments by email
jhyslop@christies.com more information at www.christies.com