BEWARE PENSION POT COLD CALLERS

If you weren't able to read my Pensioners Platform column in the June-July 2014 edition of the Torbay Times, here it is:-

THE CITY regulator has warned that the over-55s are being targeted by cold callers who are falsely claiming to offer “new, free, government-backed retirement guidance.” If you receive a call or email, or see an advertisement that makes such a claim: ignore it. If you don’t you could be conned and end up putting your pension savings into risky investments and losing the lot!

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has alerted consumers to beware of phone calls, emails, text messages and online adverts offering them a “free pension review” which encourages them to move their pension to “get better returns”. The regulator said it had heard evidence that some telephone cold callers were claiming to represent the government after the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced plans in the recent Budget to offer impartial face-to-face guidance on the range of options people had available for their pension pots.

In reality, that guidance has not yet been launched. Instead, it will coincide with plans from April 2015 to give people aged over 55 the freedom to take their pension pot however they see fit.

The FCA alert added that, as the new guidance initiative was still at the developmental stage, any claims of a link to it are highly unlikely to be true.  The regulator went-on to explain these “reviews” were designed to persuade you to move your money out of your existing personal or occupational pension into a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) or a small self-administered scheme (SSAS).

From there, the pension pot is likely to be invested in unregulated investments such as overseas property developments, forestry or storage units. Unregulated investments can be very high-risk with returns that are potentially unreliable. Indeed, the FCA stressed that, for most individual investors, putting pension money into unregulated investments is unlikely to be in their best interests. Moreover, such investments are also often very difficult to sell.

Most of the companies making these offers are not authorised by the FCA. Nevertheless, the regulator pointed-out that the companies concerned often falsely claimed they are acting on its behalf. This is not true! The FCA also warned that people investing in this way are likely to find they have no safety net to fall back on if something goes wrong. This would include no right to complain to the financial ombudsman, and no right to claim money back from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Indeed, the regulator said it was unlikely that the ombudsman or the FSCS would be able to help someone who loses money as a result of dealing with an adviser who was not FCA-authorised.

Even more importantly, the FCA pointed out that authorised financial advisers who had their clients’ best interests at heart were very unlikely to be offering such a service, because professional advice on pensions is not free.

Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FCA said, “People should be very wary if they are contacted out of the blue by someone offering a ‘free pension review’. Most of the companies offering this ‘service’ are not authorised by us, and we’re concerned that the reviews often end-up with pension pots placed in higher-risk, unregulated investments. If you see or receive an offer of a ‘free pension review’, just ignore it. If you are called out of the blue to discuss your pension, just hang up. Your pension is far too important to be put in the hands of a cold caller.”

The FCA said people who were considering reviewing their pension arrangements should consider getting independent advice from an authorised financial adviser. Consumers can check if the adviser is authorised by the FCA and, therefore, allowed to give pensions advice by going on-line to www.fca.org.uk/firms/systems-reporting/register.

You can also ask firms for their “firm reference number” plus contact details and then call the firm back on its switchboard number shown on the register, rather than call on a suggested direct line. If there are no contact details on the register or the firm claims they are out of date, you can contact the FCA’s consumer helpline on 0800 111 6768.

Footnote: If you have already moved your pension pot and have concerns, you should firstly take the matter up with any authorised firms that were involved. The ombudsman might be able to help if you cannot get the matter resolved with an authorised firm.

 

TRAITORS IN OUR MIDST?

 If you weren't able to read my Pensioners Platform column in the May-June 2014 edition of the Torbay Times, here it is:- 

 

Vince Cable MP ~ photo: courtesy of the Daily Telegraph

WELL, I guess I’ve heard it all now. On April 14, I watched a TV programme called The Agenda on which the ITV’s political editor Tom Bradby hosted a discussion on the topics of that week. One of the discussion points lined-up for the programme was, as Tom Bradby pointed-out in his introduction, “Are the older generation under-valued?”

Approximately two-thirds of the way through the show I came close to heaving the nearest heavy object through my TV screen. Why? Well, first I heard seventy year old author Michael Morpurgo (of War Horse fame) say, “We had it really very good post war. The Fifties were a good time … optimism … a new National Health Service”. Moments later, the politician Vince Cable (71) agreed when he chipped-in with, “Our generation did have it good … easier to buy a house, salaried jobs, and so on.”

Clearly, both of these talking heads lived on a different planet to most of the rest of us during the 1950s. After all, neither of them mentioned rationing, or grossly overcrowded classrooms, smog, the menacing events in Korea, Suez and Budapest, and the almost constant threat of a four minute warning, followed by total nuclear annihilation. However, those are things I and I dare say the majority of us, remember living with, while growing-up in England during the Fifties.

Indeed, my own experience was a cramped but cosy London County Council prefab until it was demolished with the rest of the estate in 1960. After that, my parents and I were moved to a GLC flat seven miles away, so I had to change secondary schools at the age of fourteen. My education never recovered because, due to an appalling GLC administrative error, I lost a whole academic year that was never recouped. Needless to say I failed all five of the GCE “O” Levels I took.

Before then, in the 1950s, my play grounds were often World War II bomb sites. As for easy mortgages: if it hadn’t been for the fact my father died at the ridiculously young age of 54, I would never have been able to afford the deposit on a house. Why did my Dad die so young? Answer: he served his King and country throughout World War II and, along the way, his health suffered. He left the Royal Artillery at Christmas 1945 with the princely sum of £99 cash, a demob suit and a peptic ulcer. The latter eventually turned to stomach cancer, and that spread to his liver. He died in June 1971.

As for Michael Morpurgo and Vince Cable: they were born in St Albans and York respectively: hardly war-torn areas compared to London, Coventry, Exeter and Plymouth methinks. Furthermore, they both came from reasonably affluent families, and they both attended grammar schools before going-on to university: Vince Cable to Cambridge and Michael Morpurgo to the University of London.

So, with all due respect to Messrs Morpurgo and Cable, they are in no position to wax lyrical about how good the 1950s were, because their experiences are far from the norm. The 1950s were not “a good time” as claimed by Mr Morpurgo, they were tough ... very tough, for most of us. They were austere too, and the majority of us, as children, just had to get-on with it and battle through the hard times as best we could. To suggest the 1950s were anything other than a struggle is just plain wrong. It’s misleading too, because it sends-out the wrong signals to younger generations who are already blaming the post-World War II Baby Boomers for the mess we’re all in today. But, in truth, we Baby Boomers, and our War Baby elders are NOT responsible for today’s problems. The blame, instead, must be laid at the feet of incompetent and sometimes corrupt politicians the world over, not to mention global big business in all its forms.

Anyone of pensionable age suggesting otherwise not only betrays his or her own generation, but also provides yet more hurtful and damaging ammunition to the OAP bashers in the media and elsewhere. The war babies and baby boomers should be used as object lessons, not soft targets. We made it through some perilously difficult times, and gave our children a much better start than we had. The fact that it has all gone belly-up is not our fault, but the fault of endemic greed and corruption among ALL generations.

 Michael Morpurgo ~ photo: courtesy of the Daily Telegraph

RED BUTTON BLUES

This article is a duplicate of my Pensioners Platform column for the March-April 2014 edition of the Torbay Times. It is also an update of my November 2013 OAP-UK Blog article on the same subject:-

HEARING LOSS can strike at any age, but it’s especially common among the retired and elderly. Indeed, after a lifetime of ‘ear troubles’ I now wear hearing aids, but I still resort to sub-titles as a back-up when I watch the television. Similarly, I enjoy reading the interactive news on the BBC red button first thing in the morning, while keeping half an eye on the muted video news content. This may be a bit of a personal ritual, but it helps me to wake-up. In fact, I used to start my day on Sky News interactive, after which – and simply for a news balance – I’d switch to the BBC News text service. Not anymore though.

A little over one year ago, in a sly and cynical move, Sky News removed its on-screen red button icon. However, not to be outdone, I found I could still access the Sky News text service by pressing the red button on my remote control anyway. Then, towards then end of last year, I noticed a Sky News announcement stating that the text news service was being discontinued but an on-demand video choice would remain.

Consequently, on 1^st November, I e-mailed Sky News as follows: “Dear News at Sky: I suffer from severe hearing loss, and I’m appalled at the apparent scrapping of your text news on the red button, which I’ve been using for quite a few years. If my suspicions are correct, I believe your actions are a clear case of discrimination against those of us with hearing issues. I have therefore copied-in Maria Miller MP, the Secretary of State for Media and Equalities, on this e-mail’s circulation. Yours faithfully”

Guess what? I didn’t receive a reply from either Sky News or the Secretary of State: just computer generated acknowledgements of receipt. So, on 26^th November, I copied the above e-mail to our local MP Adrian Sanders, who immediately contacted Ofcom. At the end of January, Mr Sanders wrote to me to confirm he’d been in-touch with Ofcom, and they, in turn, had made contact with Sky. In response to the Ofcom approach, Sky apparently said it had withdrawn the red button service, because “it was duplicating information already shown on its website.”

Excuse me? Duplicating information already shown on the Sky website? Forgive me for asking this question but, who at Sky News made the misguided assumption that EVERYONE viewing its TV ‘red button’ facility owns a PC, tablet, laptop, smart phone or smart TV?

Yet again, we appear to be witnessing, here, the all too familiar narrow-mindedness of today’s corporate world. And, once again, the perpetrators are likely to be otherwise bright but not-so-young things with all kinds of diplomas and degrees, yet possessing little, if any, sense of community or consideration for others. These people are being entrusted with decision-making that clearly discriminates against a significant proportion of the population. Yet their bosses don’t get it!

By its very nature, the now defunct Sky News red button text service was a useful tool for all of us suffering hearing loss: young and elderly alike. However, in its wisdom, Sky News assumed we ALL have internet access. But they were wrong. While it’s true to say we UK pensioners are only just beginning to wake-up to the advantages of being internet savvy, we nevertheless represent a huge sector of the UK population. So, whoever made that decision to drop the Sky News red button text service not only did us a disservice, but he or she also demonstrated a distinct lack of social awareness. Shame on you Sky News!

As a footnote to the above, I regret to report I have received an e-mail from the Equalities & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) telling me that enquiries such as this are now handled by the Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS). The e-mail then goes-on to say, “The EHRC is unable to provide you with any advice or support in relation to the matters raised in your original request.  We have not forwarded your request to the EASS in order to protect your privacy and confidentiality.”

I wonder why the words “fobbed-off” and “pillar to post” spring to mind?

DON'T LET DEMOCRACY DIE

This article is a duplicate of my Pensioners Platform column in the April-May 2014 edition of the Torbay Times:-

PENSIONER alert! This will not only be of interest to you, but also to everyone else over the age of 18 years. On Thursday May 22, many of us have an opportunity, through the ballot box, to express our support for, or abhorrence of, the European Union. There is no fence-sitting, don’t know option here: you either love the EU or you loathe it, and May 22 will give you the chance to register your opinion in a secret vote. That’s what democracy is supposed to be about.

But, what does democracy actually mean? Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with too much history, but the term originates from the 5^th Century B.C. Greek word demokratia which, in fact, is two words in one: demos (meaning people) and kratia (meaning power or rule). Yes, people power! That’s what John Lennon was singing about in his 1971 chart hit Power to the People.  Even longer ago, on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address touched on the same theme when he ended his speech with, “Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

While pondering the above musings by two celebrated thinkers, a searching question came into my mind. Is the “people power” known as democracy actually alive and well in the UK today? To be brutally honest, my response to that question was, and still is, a resounding, “No!” In fact, I’d even go as far as to say democracy is dying in Britain, and it has been doing so for quite a few years.

So, why do I believe democracy has fallen on such hard times? In short, I feel, we, the voting public must take much of the blame, because far too many of us have neglected our inalienable right to vote. For far too long, voter turn-outs have been allowed to fall to alarmingly low levels, even for general elections. The result is we’ve, all too often, ended-up with MPs and local councillors who are in-place thanks to the abject apathy of those who didn’t bother to vote. Indeed, that might be exactly what some of today’s politicians want. An irony, however, lies in the fact that it’s the very people who can’t be bothered to vote who are, invariably, the first to complain when legislation and cut-backs start to bite.

How, then, can we go about rectifying this problem? Well, the politicians could, perhaps, adopt the Australian system which compels all those entitled to vote, to do so, or face a fine. Alternatively, the powers-that-be could start exploring the wide range of technologies that might easily be utilised in the voting process: in particular our home telephones and mobile phones. But these are just floated ideas, because all we’ll have at our disposal on May 22 are the archaic polling station and rickety voting booth set-up, plus the postal or proxy vote. Not exactly twenty-first century is it?

Another stumbling block is voter apathy. Many of us will have overheard someone say, “I don’t vote, because my vote doesn’t make a difference.” But they’re wrong. Every vote, regardless of political motive, makes a difference by helping to keep democracy alive. Then there are those who think that not voting is a protest. It’s nothing of the sort! If you want to make a protest: get into the voting booth and deliberately spoil your voting slip by scrawling “I don’t trust any of you!” across it. Now, that’s what you call a protest. And that’s what underpins the democratic ethos … people power. Not voting is not a protest, it’s a cop-out, so get out there and exercise your right to vote on May 22, or forfeit the right to whine and whinge when the politicians tighten their grip on your lives.

For those of you who are genuinely unable to get out and vote … maybe through disability … if your name is on the Electoral Role, you have a right to request a postal or proxy vote. All you need to do is make contact with the Elections Office at Torbay Council on 01803 208008, and request an application form for a postal or proxy vote for the European elections on May 22. You will need to get your completed application form back to Torbay Council by 5 pm on Wednesday May 7, 2014. Your voting slip(s) will then be delivered to you approximately one week before the day of the election.

Please help to keep democracy alive. Vote on May 22. It’s your right!

SAFEGUARD YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY !

IF YOU HAVEN'T seen the above NHS leaflet, you possibly never will!

Why? Because the leaflet has been sent-out as an item of unsolicited mail, and there's a very good chance it will have popped through your letter box HIDDEN among other junk mail items. My copy arrived neatly tucked inside a pizza promotion leaflet and, had I not been aware that an important NHS leaflet was due to arrive, it would have been thrown-away into my paper recycling bag, without a moment's hesitation.

In short, the leaflet reveals a plan to allow your medical records to be shared with organisations OUTSIDE the NHS.

You can, however, opt-out of the plan by telephoning or writing to your local medical centre and telling them to mark your records as 'not to be shared'. But there's a problem. If you don't opt-out by 31st March 2014, the authorities will see that as your agreement for your medical records to be shared with ... to quote the lealet ... "approved researchers and organisations outside the NHS".

I believe this leaflet drop to be an ill-conceived idea, because junk mail is invariably discarded as unimportant. However, the 'essential reading' nature of this particular piece of junk mail cannot be over-estimated. It's about YOUR medical records and YOUR rights to privacy. I urge you to seek-out a copy and read it thoroughly. There's a 'dedicated patient information line on 0300 456 3531' where your questions may be answered to your satisfaction. You may even be able to obtain a copy of the leaflet by asking them to post you one.

In the meantime, I am doing all I can to get the powers that be to extend the above mentioned deadline by at least three months.

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME?

THE RECENT typhoon in The Philippines was, of course, a human tragedy. However, I now find myself wondering whether I’m alone in having deep misgivings over the UK government’s response to the disaster? For instance, in this age of austerity, where did that £50 million Philippines relief package come from? Was it some kind of a conjuring trick?  Or was it carved-out of this year’s huge £10 billion overseas aid hand-out? All indications are that it was neither.

 Nor did it form part of the generosity shown by private individuals, manufacturers and other organisations who donated to the Philippines aid fund of their own free will, and all credit to them for doing so. No, that £50 million appears to have come straight from UK tax payers’ coffers, yet none of us have had a say its distribution to a land many thousands of miles away. Surely, while there are UK pensioners – and others – still going cold and hungry in their own homes this winter, the government’s primary consideration should be to put our own house in order first?