Few questions on pensions, pay monthly/ 4 weeks?

[Iamanoob]

I've got a job offer and just waiting on a start date with Scotrail for Gateline. The salary is between £24 - £26k depending on how many Sundays I work (minimum 13). Pension contributions are 9.78% of salary, can I contribute more as I had a company pension that I stopped paying into when I left the company(non railway) about 17 years ago. Only paid into standard pension when I went above the pay threshold (been working mostly part time with o/t since the othet job), so I have to think about pension contributions.
How often do you get paid in Scotrail, is monthly and if so when is pay date, every 4 weeks etc. I know I should have asked at the interview but I didn't want to talk money as didn't want them to think it was the main reason for joining.
It's a 35 hour week but I think weekends are 9 hour shifts, does that mean during the week, it's less hours?
Again I should have asked but didn't think at the time.

Thanks guys

 

[Horizon22]

I've got a job offer and just waiting on a start date with Scotrail for Gateline. The salary is between £24 - £26k depending on how many Sundays I work (minimum 13). Pension contributions are 9.78% of salary, can I contribute more as I had a company pension that I stopped paying into when I left the company(non railway) about 17 years ago. Only paid into standard pension when I went above the pay threshold (been working mostly part time with o/t since the othet job), so I have to think about pension contributions.
How often do you get paid in Scotrail, is monthly and if so when is pay date, every 4 weeks etc. I know I should have asked at the interview but I didn't want to talk money as didn't want them to think it was the main reason for joining.
It's a 35 hour week but I think weekends are 9 hour shifts, does that mean during the week, it's less hours?
Again I should have asked but didn't think at the time.

Thanks guys

There’s some questions in there but not very well formatted so I’ll answer some.

• Yes you can contribute additionally, this is through a system known as BRASS
• A non-railway pension can’t normally be transferred into a railway one.
• Every 4 weeks on Friday you get paid, but there can be slightly different paydays (I.e one week different) dependent on TOC. Someone from Scotrail might be able to advise.

Are Sundays outside the working week? If so the 35 hours would be averaged across your Monday-Saturday roster over X weeks. So this depends how many people are on the roster in your team.

 

[Starmill]

To be honest if you have multiple previous 'defined contribution' pensions (where you save money like a savings account but with special tax treatment and access restrictions) and are joining a new 'defined benefit' scheme (as the ScotRail one is, where you effectively built up credits which are paid out to you from the scheme as retirement income) it sounds like you would benefit from some professional pension advice in perhaps a year or two's time. Unfortunately this is likely to come at a price. In general it's not possible to transfer in to a defined benefit scheme. The calculations for how much money you'll have in retirement are quite complex when you've got substantial retirement savings in schemes of the two different main types. You will be able to make additional contributions through your new employer's scheme as above though. In addition anyone can open a self-invested personal pension and deposit money into that, although with thw railway pension scheme the terms are likely to be much more favourable there than doing it yourself.

There's also the pensions dashboard which is coming at some point in the next few years which should help you to see your retirement savings in one place.

UK Pensions Dashboards Programme | Homepage

Money & Pensions Service has established the PDP team to deliver the infrastructure that will make pensions dashboards work.

www.pensionsdashboardsprogramme.org.uk

If you know you have old pensions, but you no longer have the paperwork from them, you can get some help tracing them for free https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

 

[12LDA28C]

There’s some questions in there but not very well formatted so I’ll answer some.

• Yes you can contribute additionally, this is through a system known as BRASS
• A non-railway pension can’t normally be transferred into a railway one.
• Every 4 weeks on Friday you get paid, but there can be slightly different paydays (I.e one week different) dependent on TOC. Someone from Scotrail might be able to advise.

Are Sundays outside the working week? If so the 35 hours would be averaged across your Monday-Saturday roster over X weeks. So this depends how many people are on the roster in your team.

I don't know whether it's changed recently but certainly some people I know have transferred a non-railway pension into the RPS, effectively 'buying' themselves a few extra years' worth of contributions into the Railway Pension Scheme. How you would go about this I have no idea but a pensions advisor would no doubt be able to help.

 

[Iamanoob]

Cheers for the info guys.
One question about the strikes, was it true that there wasn't any wage increases for a few years, hence the strikes? I'm just above the NMW but with a yearly increase set by the Government the hourly rate could catch up with the gateline rate which is about £12.41 in a few years if there is no yearly wage rise.

Thanks again.

 

[winks]

Gateline staff are due £1750 I believe and 9% overall.

So add this (9pc) to the salary you see advertised that’s what you’ll be getting soon; the offer won’t get any better.

 

[Iamanoob]

Gateline staff are due £1750 I believe and 9% overall.

So add this (9pc) to the salary you see advertised that’s what you’ll be getting soon; the offer won’t get any better.

So the wage is £22586 (excluding Sundays) and then the 9% has still to come? How long does it take for the wage increases to come through if the unions agreed a deal last year.

 

[Horizon22]

I don't know whether it's changed recently but certainly some people I know have transferred a non-railway pension into the RPS, effectively 'buying' themselves a few extra years' worth of contributions into the Railway Pension Scheme. How you would go about this I have no idea but a pensions advisor would no doubt be able to help.

Pretty sure RPS have closed all that off now as the scheme is much more generous than so many others.

 

[winks]

So the wage is £22586 (excluding Sundays) and then the 9% has still to come? How long does it take for the wage increases to come through if the unions agreed a deal last year.

The back pay is only payable if you’ve been employed before the implementation of the deal.

Sorry just realised you have an offer in Scotrail - not sure that pay rise has been put through yet but someone else will be able to help.

 

[Iamanoob]

The back pay is only payable if you’ve been employed before the implementation of the deal.

Sorry just realised you have an offer in Scotrail - not sure that pay rise has been put through yet but someone else will be able to help.

Yep pay rise has been put through, seen a job adverisement from last September and wage was just over £21k. Just hoping to get started ASAP now. Current job know i'm leaving but haven't offically handed my notice in but just want to leave now as I know i'm going.

 

[Iamanoob]

Hope i'm reading this right "Employees are automatically enrolled in the railway Pension Scheme where employer contributions are made at 9.78%." So with Scotrail contributing 9.78% , if my maths are correct that works out approx £200 per month on above figures, what % of my pay do I contribute if any Is is the same, lower, higher. Not including any BRASS payments which I know is a seperate payment/set up, just what would come out my monthly wage, so I know how much to set up for BRASS
Curently sorting out my old pension payments from a previous job and that was quite simple which they matched my payments upto £50, so my pension experience is limited.
Still to start and it's been a long time since I got the Yes you got the job email.

 

[Snow1964]

There are 2 parts to pension contributions, an employer amount which will be based on what the actuarial valuation of fund vs liabilities says. The Pension Trustees will set a minimum to ensure it is funded, company might pay more to smooth their contributions as valuations are only every 3 years. The rate might vary depending on how the fund is performing.

Employee contributions which are normally a set percentage of gross pay. This is subtracted giving lower amount before income tax is calculated (so if you pay say 7%, might only be 5% off take home pay).

If you want a very quick idea of what your pension might be, then take fund value and divide it by 25 to give rough amount per year. Then divide that by by 12 or 52 if you want monthly or weekly amount. This is not accurate and might change but better than a wild guess.

 

[CloudyManday]

Still to start and it's been a long time since I got the Yes you got the job email.

Have they indicated a start date yet?

 

[Iamanoob]

Have they indicated a start date yet?

End of July

 

[chuff chuff]

Pay is four weekly and last pay date was 23rd June.

 

[klkl]

... so I know how much to set up for BRASS

There can be a delay in setting up BRASS in my experience but once it is going it is fairly easy to vary the amount you contribute.

I would download the BRASS payroll deduction form and have it completed / sent to payroll ASAP once you're in position. Choose a modest / conservative initial contribution which you can then increase or vary when you see your actual figures on your payslips and can evaluate your own circumstances.