News releases
A New Year Message from the General Secretary
The Forces Pension Society takes this opportunity to assure all members of the Armed Forces pension community serving, retired and supporting, that the Society will be extra vigilant this year. We have been surprised, and to some extent alarmed, to find that the Coalition government is eroding trust in the sense of fair play which has surrounded Armed Forces pensions for many decades. The abandonment of RPI, despite every promise of the past, was done in a way that falsely suggested that fairness lay at the root of the change to CPI, as if there was nothing to worry about. There are now voices in government and around it that believe that the Armed Forces' arrangements for both pensions and redundancy are over-generous. We cannot let that go by in the name of the deficit without some energetic rebuttal.
2012 will be a deciding year for the Armed Forces of the future in many respects, but not least that of their long term financial security in the pension area. A new scheme will start to take shape. It must lie, like its predecessors, at the leading edge of value of public sector schemes. It must bear in mind that fighting and warfare, even in the cyber age, require tough, fit men and women at its core. And it must hold them for successful careers at higher level or speed them on their way as successful citizens enriched by the experience of serving Queen and Country.
We will be closely monitoring and actively commenting on what the government does in the name of the Covenant. We have long been the principal proponents of the Unique Nature of Military Service which lies at the root of the Armed Forces Covenant. We will not let the government use the Covenant agenda just to fill it with the items it can command and direct. If it is not all-embracing it is valueless: and pensions are critical to all discussions as they are a vital element of Armed Forces remuneration, disproportionately so in comparison to other areas of public service.
The Society's expertise is in greater demand than ever; over 4,000 new members joined in the last year. Our staff is working at full capacity but the demand for our services outstrips that capacity. We campaign on behalf of the whole Armed Forces community so we are now asking other COBSEO members who also represent that community to help us this year.
We're fighting for the Forces and their Families in 2012!
