Plumbing and mechanical engineering [uk] industry pension scheme

[nicro3]

From 1976-1997 worked fo jib companies within the plumbing pension scheme from then till now have been self employed and the pension is frozen. The problem being you cannot start to contribute again unless you work directly for a member company or set yourself up as a limited company. I have tried to put pressure the pension board as an individual to no avail, and wondered if anyone on the forum had tried the same. Bearing in mind there are 23000 members not currently contributing [meaning their pensions are frozen] and only 6000 who are contributing. Its time they altered their stance. Your thoughts please

 

[fagsanbooz]

exactly the same as me. worked for jib firms for about 10 years, i co-run my own small company, spoke to jib month ago and couldn't believe they haven't relaxed the rules, seems poty to me considering the decline of jib graded plumbers etc, a lot of the work on sites is now done by smaller subbies and most are self-employed. They need to seriously look at 'OUR' industry and embrace the changes, not fight it till yer just wither and die!

 

[nicro3]

Thanks for reply im sure if enough plumbers whose pensions are frozen got together and put pressure on the trustees to relax the rules maybe things would change.i am not sure if this is the correct forum to galvanise support to lobby them as a lot of the guys on here are not old enough to be within the scheme ?

 

[tamz]

The plumbing pension is an "occupational pension" and as such sole traders and partners are not eligable as they are not employees. The scheme is run for the benefit of employees. It is HMRC who make the rules not the pension board so their hands are tied.
You could joint the plumbing industry personal pension scheme (run by the same people) if you wished or make your own arrangements. You can transfer your existing JIB pension to a personal pension but think carefully before you do. Your JIB pension is a defined benefit pension where you build up pension credits. Each year you contribute to the scheme you build up a pension credit equal to 1/60 of the graded wages at retirement. In Fagsandbooze case he should be entitled to a pension of around 1/6th graded wages which at todays rates is around £70/wk. Compare that to annuities and see how much you would need in the pot to match that.
Rules are rules i'm afraid and you didn't miss what you never had. You will benefit one day.

 

[nicro3]

Dont understand what you mean by your last sentence. I contributed to the scheme for over twenty years[agreed so did my employerstwo thirds I believe] but at the time of its inception there were probably over 30000 plumbers putting in, now 6000 ,in 10years there might be a 1000, rules are rules may be. but you can bend them if you open as limited company and pay yourself as an employee. I say let the 23000 MEMBERS NOT ALLOWED TO CONTRIBUTE do it without rule bending

 

[tamz]

I meant the pension was set up and run (very well) for employees and when you were a menber you were paying class D NI contributions which in effect cost you nothing much for your pension contribution (you would normally have been paying class A at a higher rate) so you never noticed anything coming off your take home. Your employer was contributing at twice the rate you were.
The contribution rates were adjusted up a couple of years ago to take into account the stockmarket position and employees now contribute 3.75% of their gross wage + the employer contributes another 7.5% so overall 11.25% of your gross earnings are going towards your pension. Say you had for the sake of argument your top line was £500. Your overall pension contribution would be £56.25 for that week and it has cost you nothing much. Would you as a sole trader contribute 11.25% of your annual earnings towards your pension? as that is what you would be required to do to stay in it. The scheme also had monthly contributions based on earnings. How can a se person say accurately what their monthly earnings are? You can't as your returns are done in arrears of up to 2 years.
As for the limited company thing it is only really another way to cut your tax bill while gaining a huge benefit.

 

[nicro3]

You are correct in all of your post and I agree if you are a contributing member its a great pension. On the other hand if you are a non contributing member its not so rosy. When the scheme was introduced the plan was all plumbers would eventually have to be jib registered to practice their trade within england and wales so it would follow that all plumbing companies with be in the scheme. Of course this didnot happen due to advent of agencies,national economic problems and who knows what else? The fact is the pension still operates under that early ideal ie empolyees in scheme would grow and grow . So now it is not willing to change.
As a footnote - In a time of looking for work I rang them up in Edinburgh to ask for a list of parcipitating companies they said could'nt due to information act. When I said "its only a list of firms" the answer was some companies don't want it known they are in the scheme . Whats that all about????

 

[stevetheplumber]

think my jib pension is going to pay me £12 pounds a year just cant decide what im going to spend it on