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A Message from our National Chairman |
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Sam Reed MBE |
CHAIRMAN'S SPRING / SUMMER MESSAGE 2010 |
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Hello Everyone We now know that our Railway Pension will not increase during 2010. Unfortunately millions of retired non railway people are suffering the same fate because, like us in the rail industry, most are bound to the inflation figure known as the Retail Price Index (RPI)as it stood 6 months ago at minus -1.4% in September 2009. Most pensioners have never encountered a negative RPI that affects their pension payments and it will be difficult for them to come to terms with no increase this year. The good news is that we will not have our Rail Industry pension reduced by the -1.4%. |
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Perhaps now is the time to review whether using the Retail Prices index (RPI) is the right way to decide pension levels. Campaigners, including the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), have used their strong voice to highlight that the typical pensioner household has a different spending pattern to those of working age, so an average measure of prices and inflation can provide a misleading picture. Pensioners
tend to spend a higher proportion of their limited income on items such
as fuel, food and energy.
We are not big spenders on luxuries such as large TVs or iPods. The Office for National Statistics produces a separate measure of pensioner inflation, though this is not used to set any pensions or benefits: we should ask our politicians WHY?
BTPF Recruitment Can I make a personal appeal to you all to join the BTPF? Please can all current members introduce their spouse / partner / friend to join as a member? After all they may well receive a rail pension as a dependant in future years. Do you know of someone who has recently retired or is about to retire from the transport industry? If you recruit just one or two people it would greatly help to maintain a membership of 20,000 plus and play a significant part in strengthening the BTPF position with retaining our very own representative on the Trustee Board of the Railway Pension Scheme.
Many BTPF branches also offer attractive social benefits
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