Extracts from the April 2002 Newsletter
Editorial - More New Blood
In
our last Newsletter, it was a great pleasure to start with “Welcome
New Members” to celebrate the arrival of the pensioner associations
of Dexodus
and Royal Ordnance.
Now the family expands again as we welcome the Association
of Members of IBM UK Pension Plan (AMIPP). This association was
formed recently to try to resolve problems between those managing the
IBM pension plans and those affected by them.
Already, one AMIPP member has attended a COPAS meeting in the South-East and another has attended a meeting of the Council. This is a very encouraging sign of a willingness to be active within COPAS .
Former Chairman Ron Brociner contributes a thought-provoking article to this issue and another Council member, Roy Causton, writes about Member Nominated Trustees, but you do not have to be on the Council to write for our Newsletter. Send something to me any time. Kevin Cheverton, Editor, 3, Wayside Drive, Clevedon, North Somerset, BS21 7DU Tel 01275-874563
London
and South-East Region
The meetings of this region are held in the Riverside Arts Centre, Sunbury-on-Thames,
in which fine accommodation is provided by the generosity of the Thorn-EMI
Pensioners Association. The organiser is Ken
Wootton.
On 11th October ’01, 37 pensioners heard Frank Field give an overview of the current situation. He spoke about pensioner poverty and the weaknesses of the Government’s reforms, about the shift away from defined benefit schemes, made worse by the Government’s actions. He told us about the Pensions Reform Group with their plans for the “Universal Protected Pension”, a scheme for modernising pensions for the millenium. COPAS Debates the Current Occupational Pensions Scene Nineteen members were present at Sunbury on 14th February. Discussion ranged over Member Nominated Trustees and the Minimum Funding Requirement, led by Roy Causton and the Simplification Review taken through by Ken Wootton, who chaired the meeting. Appreciative comments were received from those attending- many new contacts were made, new ideas given and views interchanged. A chart was presented showing the points made with the various replies made by our associations to the Simplification Review Team. It was said that much of the present decline of the Final Salary (or Defined Benefit) type of Occupational Pension was attributed to successive governmental policy. This could only result in problems for pensioners. The Government would be left to pick up the tab.
Those
pensioners who want to get something done should find helpful this
excerpt from an article by Lisa Buckingham in the Financial Mail
on Sunday of 10th February 2002:
Pensions: the worst scandal of all.
Financial Mail wants to help employees and their families put
a stop to the pensions rip-off. If you feel your pension is under threat,
tell your story to their Personal Finance Editor, Jeff
Prestridge
Future
L&SE meetings:
The organizer, Ken Wootton (66,
Barn Meadow Lane, Great Bookham, Surrey, KT232 3EY, Tel: 01372 456 291,
will send invitations with full details one month before the meeting
and details will be posted on this website as soon as they are known.
See Meetings