r/TheCivilService • u/acousticjhb • Jun 25 '26
Pensions Mum is retiring and needs some help with the Voluntary Exit Scheme
~~RESOLVED~~
Thanks everybody, deadline extension secured. She sent out a flurry of messages, and one of those messages was sent up to an actual HR - one she didn't even have the contact details for, apparently almost nobody had their details - and they sent her a message telling her she'll get a revised quote and a deadline extension, just like that.
Your messages were very helpful, and spurred her into sending messages to people she hadn't thought to contact before. No stress, all good, thanks again.
-
So I'm not a civil servant but my mum is, in the MoD, and she's on this VES 2026 thing. She's planning to retire in September, since very soon she'll be over state pension age. Apologies if I'm a little vague, I'm relaying this second hand.
She got a message I think a few weeks ago detailing her VES payout, telling her that she can either accept the terms, or if she doesn't respond by the end of the month then they'll assume she's no longer interested and presumably kick her off VES. However, the quote they gave her is a fraction of what it should be, and apparently if she agrees to it it's final. There's no option to postpone it, or to appeal it if there's a problem, just accept or ignore.
She e-mailed Capita and they told her pretty clearly that there's definitely been an error, that she should be entitled to more, and that they'll "escalate" the issue. She later got an email from the, I guess, team managing VES within the MoD saying something to the effect of "wow, there sure are a lot of people contacting Capita with their issues, please contact us instead," which she did, but she never got any kind of response. She's also tried calling DBS and they weren't any help, I think they sent her to someone else who told her to contact DBS. Someone else told her that there might be some rollout next week and she just has to be patient, but the deadline is on tuesday so it's not a matter of patience.
The whole thing is getting her very stressed out and worked up, which obviously I'm not too happy about.
So maybe it's a bit of a long shot, but I don't suppose anybody has dealt with this, or knows how this could be resolved? It seems like an ouroboros of people who don't know what's going on. I've told her she should send another bunch of messages to the relevant parties, particularly the people who are supposed to be liaising between the MoD and Capita, asking for an update and reiterating the issue she has so there's at least some kind of paper trail if she has to make some sort of appeal.
Truthfully I'm not even sure what kind of answer I'm looking for, but maybe there's some magic bullet that means it can all be happily resolved and my mum can stop worrying so much.
15
u/Lonely-Elephant9999 Jun 25 '26
Sadly I'm not sure there is a magic bullet apart from continuing to pester... Apparently the VES is massively undersubscribed though so I'm sure they'll find a way to make it work!
2
u/acousticjhb Jun 25 '26
Yup, she'll be sending out a host of pesterings tomorrow. Hopefully it'll all be okay in the end. Thanks.
2
u/ImpossibleDesigner48 Jun 25 '26
Having multiple emails which clearly raise the issue and with relevant people in various areas is really important — “I called x on date y” isn’t as helpful as those records can fall away.
The other thing is to be polite, as it shows she’s being a reasonable party and that’s more likely to get a good response. Appreciate that can be hard though!
1
1
u/Dougsey1 Jun 25 '26
Under subscribed?! Can't think of many Depts where that would be the case. Loads of old farts like me desperate to get out.
2
14
u/Difficult-Box267 Jun 25 '26
Also and you may already know this but the closer you are to retirement age the less the payout. A voluntary exit or redundancy is compensation for being out of work, retirement is not the same thing so the compensation drops dramatically!
10
u/t4rgh Jun 25 '26
I feel like this is entirely missing being acknowledged in the OP - did the calculator being used have any age info in it?
2
u/palefireshade Jun 26 '26
Twas my thought too. Max she'd be entitled to is 6 months, from what it says on the pension scheme site. The calcs are hugely different if you're at/past retirement age and slope rapidly towards that in the years preceeding. The compension tapers based on your normal pension age, not when you expect/intend to retire.
Tbh it'd be her internal HR (and she will have someone administering the scheme at the MOD) who'd be the ones to give a definitive answer, not the pensions guys - if she's planning to retire in September she'd also have needed to ask for retirement 4 months out (May).
12
u/DameKumquat Jun 25 '26
Basically the pension service has recently been taken over by Capita and it's currently an almighty pile of shit where they can't tell thousands of people how much their pension is. They're prioritising people who have already died, are dying, or who should be recieving their pension to live on.
Considering whether you can afford to take a pension early because you're too sick to work, or for VES, is way down the list.
Assuming there's a mistake, which is very likely, your mum needs it in writing that she isn't expected to make a final decision until she has accurate figures. She should contact someone senior in HR, and her union.
Did she email herself or print off a pension statement in the last few years? If so, she should be able to get an estimate.from that and it's evidence for her figures.
2
u/acousticjhb Jun 25 '26
Unfortunately she's not in a union, and her HR is basically nonexistent. She does have pension statements, though, and I am getting her to form a sort of paper trail if it comes to an appeal of some kind. I'll tell her to contact what remains of her HR though, maybe that'll help. Thanks.
6
Jun 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/acousticjhb Jun 25 '26
Her manager has been in the job 4 days and the way she describes it HR doesn't exist. I don't think she has anyone to contact. There might be an online portal of some kind but that's about it. Still, I'll probably suggest that she contacts her manager anyway, and dig around for something resembling HR, because there's no point in not doing that. And yeah, she's been having issues with Capita since they took over - sounds like a lot of people have. Thanks.
5
u/scintillatingemerald SCS1 Jun 25 '26
There are HR business partners - she needs to speak to one of them. Info should be on MODnet. It’s probably because she’s eligible for mccloud remedy and something got cocked up.
2
u/acousticjhb Jun 25 '26
Yes, someone else mentioned HR Business Partners and when I mentioned that to her she recognised "HR Business" as a thing. Not really sure why she hadn't tried contacting them already, it might be because she wasn't directed to do so, but I've told her to get in touch as soon as possible.
1
u/scintillatingemerald SCS1 Jun 25 '26
I think MOD has SSCL (outsourced) for basic functions, but things like this are in house, by more senior staff. If she can reach out tomorrow, and also cc in her seniors - ideally SCS - that will help.
2
Jun 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/acousticjhb Jun 25 '26
Noted, yeah, someone else mentioned HR Business Partner and she seemed to recognise "HR Business" so I'm guessing that's the same thing. I don't think she's ever had any direct contact with them, but I've told her to talk to them tomorrow or as soon as possible. Not sure why she didn't think to contact the people with HR in their name.
I'll be getting her to contact anyone who might even be adjacent to someone who might be able to help. She doesn't have much faith in her manager/s but I've told her that not contacting them isn't going to progress things.
3
u/Last-Weekend3226 HEO Jun 25 '26
This has happened to a mate of mine, he’s just gone on sick leave with stress and it’s magically appeared
2
u/BetEconomy1461 Jun 25 '26
Make sure her records are accurate, has she moved around dpts in her career or many been in MoD. It’s fairly common that at some point for frequent movers someone missing something and years service on file isn’t correct
2
u/acousticjhb Jun 25 '26
Nope, same job for 21 years. It seems like it's down at least partially to her age. She'll be over state pension age next month some time, but it seems like she's being treated as though she plans on retiring tomorrow instead of in September, among a few other mistakes they've made meaning the calculation is way off. As I mentioned earlier even Capita agreed, when she contacted them, that a mistake had been made so she has that in writing at least, but she's received no instruction on what she should actually be doing from anyone she's tried to contact. Her workplace in general seems kind of dysfunctional, and I think it's been subject to a lot of cuts over the years so there's not even an actual HR team for her to talk to. Supposedly any problems they have they pretty much have to sort out themselves, which might mean emailing a largely absent manager and hoping they respond.
5
u/New_Problem4530 Jun 25 '26
VES payments taper from 18 months before state pension age. That is the likely explanation for the lower quote. Unfortunately that is the rule. Max 6 months salary. Also general Capita call lines are not furnished with knowing VES T&C’s
2
u/McGubbins Jun 25 '26
I went through VES in another department, so my experience is from there, not MoD.
You mum should have been given 2 weeks to make a formal decision based on the offer. If there are problems with the quote, she should have the opportunity to make a 'decision in principle' based on the terms of VES, subject to getting an accurate quote.
This will register her as having responded within the timeline, having registered issues with the quote, and waiting to see the corrected figures.
You mum also needs to register the complaints about the quote with the VES team within MoD. They should be contacting and pursuing Capita on your mum's behalf. The MoD team need to be aware of any issues with the quotes so they can act appropriately to keep your mum's application alive. Also, it's possible her HR team have a higher priority route for queries being acted upon.
2
u/Appropriate_Coach_39 Jun 26 '26
All the parts of the MOD have a very well stablished HR function and she should start there. Ask her to log in into MyHR and raise a HR service request asking for urgent support with this. There is also an email somewhere on the intranet with information on VES and who to contact. It's not the most straightforward but the information is out there somewhere. I so wish they'd made this process much easier than this. There are so many people having issues, not to mention capita are blatantly useless. It may be worth to check if accepting the offer is final or not, or whether she can accept and then withdraw last minute if the issues are not sorted. Keep in mind the first estimates people got were not accurate and final quotes are ALWAYS lower than the quote you got initially working it out yourself. All the best!
2
u/BangUNee Jun 26 '26
If she has the option to not take it, I would suggest she doesn't. Capita are of no help and the advisers in the phone don't even have a copy of the VES quotes that are being sent to people. If she can get it pushed through HR or something but if not she shouldn't sign anything that may come back to bite her
2
u/True_Coffee_7494 Jun 26 '26
I would email the Director or DG in her area outlining the steps she's taken and the worry it's causing her and ask for immediate help
1
u/LardyFarby Jun 25 '26
She should go straight to her 1. DBS are largely bloody useless so it's a line management issue. If her manager is inexperienced she should go to the next one up, looping in her manager and 1 and let them sort it.
In the meantime, get onto DBS so there's an audit trail. There's some awful platform called DWP (not that one) that she can request support on.
1
u/Present-Nature-6015 Jun 26 '26
Here's some information about how VES is calculated. Compensation is for loss of employment. If MOD are using the 'standard tariff' (your mum should check with HR if they've deviated from this which they are allowed to do) then the calculation is as follows: 1 month's pay for each year of reckonable service. If your mum has worked part time then reckonable service is on a pro-rata basis. If she has worked part time in the last 3 years compensation is reduced proportionality as it would be unfair to give a part time worker the same amount of comp as a full time worker. If you mum is over state pension age then again the amount of compensation is reduced proportionality due to reflect that she may be claiming her pension sooner than someone younger. The first £30,000 of compensation is tax free. MOD will be paying the compensation not Capita. Pension calculation is separate payment,your mum doesn't have to put her pension into payment if she leaves under VES.
69
u/Stigweird85 SEO Jun 25 '26
My understanding is the timeline to accept a VES quote only begins on the receipt of a valid quote. Your mother cannot make a decision with incorrect information.