N The quarterly GLAMORGAN Newsletter R
P of the O National Association of Retired Police Officers
Glamorgan Branch
Winter, 2020 ------
President: Chief Constable SWP Mr. Jeremy VAUGHAN Chairman: Mr. D.M. Wood, 71 Deri Avenue, Pencoed, Bridgend. CF35 6TT Tel: 01656 861733 Vice Chairman: Mr. A. N. Hughes, 19, Broomfield Close, Tonteg, Pontypridd Tel: 01443 201470 Treasurer: Mr. G. Crowley, 7, Brook Way, Maesycelyn, Ton Teg, Pontypridd CF38 1PA Tel: 01443 201371 Secretary: Mr. A. Crocombe, 16, Deri Avenue, Pencoed, Bridgend. CF35 6TU Tel: 01656 861857 E-mail: [email protected]
1. Welcome to New Members
We have several new members to welcome to the Branch this quarter, they being: Mr. Walter PENNELL of Coychurch, Bridgend; Mr. David H. HILLMAN of Neath; Mr. Paul R. HARWOOD of Coity, Bridgend; Mr. Paul COULTARD of Ton Pentre; Mr. Robert HUGHES of Bridgend; Mr. Graham VINCENT of Tonyrefail; Mr. Julian DODGE of Porthcawl; Mr. Neil ROPER of Porthcawl and joining us as a Duel Member with Swansea is Mr. John KNIGHT a warm welcome to you all and your partners, may you all have a very long, happy and healthy retirement and association with our Branch.
As always we also welcome those partners of the below listed who have elected to remain members of the Glamorgan Branch of NARPO.
2. In Memoriam
During this same quarter, we have received notification of the sad loss of the following members and friends:
Ret.PC . 160 Huw Gareth (Chips) EVANS Ret.PS 1073 John (Jack) LAZARUS 24, Rockfields, 18, Glenwood Close, Nottage, Coychurch PORTHCAWL BRIDGEND CF36 3NS CF35 5GT Died 14th October, 2020 Died 19th October, 2020
Ret.PC.1105 John PHILLIPS Ret.Ch.Insp. Jack HARRIS 17, Manor Drive, “High Winds”, Nightingale Gardens, Coychurch St. Davids Manor, Church Village, BRIDGEND PONTYPRIDD CF35 5HA CF38 1GB Died 13th November, 2020 Died 26th November, 2020
Page 1 Ret.PC. Duncan GERRISH Ret. PS 1232 Keith James LEWIS 24, Roches Row, 42, Travailen Avenue, Cobh, Cimla, County Cork NEATH Ireland SA11 3UR Died Late November, 2020 Died 3rd February, 2021
Ret.PC Alistair R. PARKER Ret.Ch.Insp. Leslie Ronald HAVARD 6, Highfield Close, 86, Mildred Street, Risca, Tynant, BEDDAU NEWPORT PONTYPRIDD NP11 6EZ CF38 2AP Died 19th December, 2020 Died 13th January, 2021
Mrs. Monica CARROLL Mrs. Ann JONES (wife of Ret. Supt. Jeff Carroll) (wife of Ret.Ch.Insp. David JONES) 1, Hawthorn Avenue, 15, Grovers Field, NEATH Abercynon RCT SA11 3NW CF45 4PP Died 12th January, 2021 Died 23rd December, 2020
Ret. DC Gregory John PAYNE Ret.Ch.Supt. Trevor John MORRIS 28, Taff Close, 71, Sunnyside Road, BARRY, South Glamorgan BRIDGEND CF62 7QU CF31 4AF Died 13th January, 2021 Died 17th January, 2021
Ret. DC Philip Malcolm WALES Mr. Jack HAMER 2, Fairland Close, 16. Otterbourne Mews Llantrisant, Otterbourne Hill, PONTYCLUN WINCHESTER CF72 8QH SO21 2HJ Died 24th January, 2021 Died 5th September, 2020
3. DECEASED MEMBERS
Above are listed members whose death was brought to our attention at that time, however at this time of year I also have to report that the following members have not appeared on the pension list as of December last:
Mr. D. R. CONNICK of Rhydfro, PONTARDAWE; Mr. W. L. MORGAN of CARDIFF (who died on 12/4/20); Mr. Jonathan ROBERTS of Maesteg (who died 27th November, 2020); Mr. V. C. EVANS of Merthyr Tydfil; Mrs. P. WILLIAMS of Caerphilly; Mrs. J. THOMAS of Baglan; Mrs. J. RICHARDS-EVANS of Swansea; Mrs. J. PRANKERD of Pontyclun; Mrs. E. PORTNELL of Swansea: Mrs. R. HUGHES of Ton Pentre (who had died 29/1/20); Mrs. June HARRIS of Pontardulais; Mrs. Adrien DAVIES of Llanelli; Mrs. Lita DAVIES of Baglan; Mrs. S. DRANE of Treharris; Mrs. Winifred P. FISHER of Pontyclun; Mrs. H. DAVIES of Coychurch; Mr. William Roy JONES of Litchard Bridgend who had died on 22/7/20; Mrs. J. STEPHANIE of Uttoxeter; Mr. G. I. DAVIES of Torquay.
Page 2
4. DECEASED FROM OTHER BRANCHES AND NON-MEMBERS
Ret. DC.1950 Ronald Stephen JOHN (Non-Member) Died 16th November, 2020 Ret.DS.2531 Tony THOMAS (Swansea Branch Member) Died 11th January 2021 Mrs. Maureen RATCLIFF (Cardiff Widow Member) Died 1st January, 2021 Ret.PC. 2021 Derick MICHAEL (Swansea Branch Member) Died 14th January 2021 Ret.DC. Ray BRYANT (Cardiff Member) Died 15th January, 2021 Ret.Ch.Insp. Reginald BRIGGS (Non Member) Died 23th October, 2020 Arthur HUGHES (Groundsman at Police HQ) Died 22nd October, 2020 Jim HAYES (Civilian Employee HQ – WCRO+Ops. Room) Died 23rd October, 2020 Ret.PC.575C Mike HUISH (Cardiff Member) Died 6th February, 2021
5. ANNUAL PENSION RISE
As we all know, the annual pension rise is linked to the inflation figures in September of each year and if the inflation figure for that month is a certain percentage, then that is the percentage rise we get in the following April. Last year’s September inflation rate was 0.5%.
The good news is that the NARPO Subscription is also linked to that figure so there will be no great jump in subscriptions this year, just a little adjustment to: £21.60, which means a 12p rise in the subscription rate for this year. This will have be taken from your or February pay in the usual manner.
6. BRANCH PRESIDENT
Not to be outdone by recent events across the pond, I can announce that we in the Glamorgan Branch of NARPO also have a new president.
Unlike the former US President our former Branch President Mat JUKES moved on to pastures new willingly and without disputing anything, we wish him well in his new post in the Mets.
It has long been a tradition of this Branch to invite the current Chief Constable to be our President, so the present incumbent of that role, Mr. Jeremy VAUGHAN was invited to take-up the position and has agreed to do so in an honorary capacity.
7. BRANCH UPDATE
The current pandemic has certainly changed things for everyone, not just in this country, but throughout the world and as imperfect and inconvenient as things are at the moment we as police pensioners are in a very privileged position. Whilst other sections of the community have worries with regard to their future work prospects we have a regular source of income in the form of a police pension to maintain our lifestyles.
Although it has not been possible to deliver to our members some of the usual benefits that membership of the Branch generate, we have been able in most cases to assist those members who need support at crucial times in their lives, when such matters are brought to our attention.
Page 3
It has been noted that at a time when funeral attendances are being restricted to only a small number of family members that it is often the case that we are not being informed of the demise of some of our members, so I would urge anyone with such knowledge to let me/us know in the Branch to enable us the opportunity to offer support to family members at such a crucial time.
Unfortunately, with the majority of people working from home at this time and at various times in the last 10 months it has been difficult to obtain information to pass on to members. Logistics have also been stretched, as an example, the last Newsletter was sent to the distributors and a process which has taken as little as 4 days in normal times took just shy of 3 weeks.
Things do seem to be slowly improving and we are mostly adjusting to the situation, perhaps 30 odd years in the police prepared us in some small way for this situation and how to get through it. Unfortunately not everyone of us has, or possibly will come out the other end of this smiling, perhaps indicated by the list of members preceding this, whose numbers certainly exceed those usually printed at this time of the year. Our thoughts are with the families of those so affected.
8. MOVED HOUSE LATELY?
When I say lately, the question is did you inform Capita (our current pension provider) with your new address when you did move home?
We have had a couple of instances lately where enquiries have come from Police HQ asking if we are aware of the current address of pensioners, who have moved and as they (HQ) assume that the pension information with Capita is correct have tried to contact them without success.
They do say that one of the most stressful things in life – especially as we get older – is moving house. One of the things that people who do move forget is that they must inform the pension administrator (currently Capita) of that change of address, it is easily missed especially as the pension keeps landing in the bank account on the first of each month, and it may not even be a consideration, until things do go wrong.
With the change-over of pension administrators on the horizon it is important that they have the correct details for all pensioners to ensure that the correct details are passed on to the new administrators. Somebody, either Capita or the new guys are going to have to send out a letter explaining any new arrangements. That is without mentioning the annual receipt of your P60 and any other communication from the tax office.
If in doubt please phone or send an E-mail to Capita quoting your Pension Number and giving your new and old address, a telephone number would also be advisable.
If you are receiving a pay-slip delivered by the post person (notice the gender neutral use of the term – I’m getting there), and it is not being forwarded from your old address, then I think you can assume that they will have your correct details.
I am sure that it goes without saying that any changes in marital status must also be recorded with the Pension Administrator to enable easy transition of Pension Benefits in the hopefully distant future. I have recently heard of an instance where this was complicated by a post-retirement divorce and re-marriage with the administrator having the first wife as the beneficiary of the pension (not our Branch), this was sorted eventually but not without a sizeable delay.
Page 4 9. PENSION ADMINISTRATORS
I have repeatedly indicated that there will be a change to the company who administer our pensions, this is so as the present administrators Capita did not put in a bid for continuation of the contract, however, I am informed that all is in-hand with just a couple of T’s to dot and eyes to cross, a change is likely to take place in about June, when it is anticipated that we will all receive a communication informing us personally of the change and any variations we can expect in the service we currently receive – there are none anticipated at this time.
10. UPDATING PERSONAL DETAILS
In the same context as the last paragraph, there is also an issue with retirees failing to update next of kin details. Occasionally after retirement people divorce, possibly re- marry and loved ones die. It is important to inform the pension provider when a significant event like this happens. You may say “What’s it got to do with them”, well nothing really, but such information will certainly make life easier for your family, when it comes to claiming any pension they are entitled to after your days. A quick phone- call or E-mail to check that they have the right details recorded will probably save many problems, if they need more then they will let you know.
11. CHARITY GOLF DAY
Two of our members have been organising an annual charity event in the Maesteg Golf Club for several years now, and are organising one for this year. It will be run in compliance with any Covid 19 restrictions at the time of the event.
The event will be held as a fund raising day in support of Prostate Cymru. Tee times are available from 9.10 am throughout the day until 3.20 pm., at a cost of £120.00 for teams of four, this includes bacon roll and tea/coffee on arrival. A round of golf followed by a two course meal and prize giving.
Anyone interested should please contact either of the following: Kevin Grant on 07759217600 email: [email protected] Chris Thomas on 07853907854 or [email protected]
12. BEREAVEMENT BOOKLET - Update
Whilst the last Newsletter was with the distributors, I received a supply of the Bereavement Booklets of which I described fully in the last Newsletter. Those of you who receive the Branch E-mails were invited to let me have conformation of your contact details and a booklet was dispatched via the post-person (now just showing off - sorry), over 60 copies were sent to members, more are still available if required.
Anyone who does not receive Branch E-mails has only to contact me (your Secretary) by way of E-mail or telephone and one will be sent out, usually in the next post.
Page 5 13. SURVIVORS’ PENSION
As you have seen over the last few years, if you keep up with the news, Civil Partnerships have been recognised in law. Single sex partners have for several years now been able to formalise their union and after a recent Court case, duel sexed couples have attained the same rights in law. The Survivor pension (usually referred to as a Widow/er’s Pension) part of the regulations has now been updated to comply with this legislation.
This does not however mean that if a couple have been unmarried and living together for many years that when the former police officer dies his/her partner will automatically qualify for a survivor pension. The relationship has to be certified in law with either a Marriage Certificate or Civil Partnership Certificate, which would be the proof of the relationship needed by the pension administrator to enable them to pay a Survivors Pension to the surviving partner of the relationship.
This change in the law may assist couples in a long term relationship who have been reluctant to have that relationship formalised due to religious or social issues.
14. PENSION PROBLEMS FOR SOME?
As you may already be aware, an officer not having reached the age of 55 upon retirement would not have his/her pension index-linked until attaining that age. It is in effect frozen at the rate s/he has upon retirement. At 55 there is an Up-lift in his/her pension, it would not get backdated, but the pension would be increased to the current rate – in other words if it related to three years and the annual pension increases during that frozen period was 2%+3%+2% then the pension received would be increased by 7% (examples only) and they would continue receiving annual increments in the ensuing years based on that rate.
Some officers in Gwent have become aware that they had not been receiving their Up- lift to the higher amount on attaining their 55th birthday as they should have done.
As we share the same pension provider, then it is possible that this error may relate to some of our members. If you were under 55 years of age when you retired and did not notice a sizeable jump in pension when hitting 55 then you may need to check that you had not been missed.
Note: If you were 54+ when you retired then the normal annual increase would be all you would receive upon attaining 55 years of age.
15. BOOST TO SAVINGS?
If you are displeased with the interest rates on offer in other financial institutions at the moment, you might want to check-out what Metfriendly are currently offering, some of their financial products have a guaranteed annual bonus of 1.5%, which is far in excess of most bank accounts. These products are not available to the general public, only those in the police family are eligible. If in doubt on any of their products and their suitability to your particular circumstances then get qualified financial advice. Visit: metfriendly.org.uk or by telephone: 01689 891454 They are in the Financial Services Compensation Scheme so up to 85k of any savings are guaranteed.
Please note that this is not in any way “Financial Advice”, just bringing this opportunity to your attention should it be suitable for your own personal circumstances.
Page 6 16. GLAMORGAN BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
It is usual in the first Newsletter of the year for me to have to announce the date for the Annual general Meeting of the Branch. Like all organisations of our kind it is within the rules of the organisation that all Branches must inform members of their Branches of the date of such meetings and give the appropriate notice of such meetings to each member of that arrangement.
We live in strange times and at the time of typing this are in the middle (hopefully) to end of a third lock-down due to the virus. Last year, the rules were amended as an emergency measure to enable Branches to postpone and cancel AGM’s. Although not ideal, we decided that our branch would enable members to see the reports of the branch officers in the members’ only section of our website. The opportunity existed for members then contact those officers and pose questions relating to their reports.
We have not heard of any similar arrangement for this year, so presuming that things will get back to some form of normality I have made arrangements for this year’s AGM to take place in the usual venue, that being the Laleston Garden Club, Laleson, Bridgend at 10.30 am on Tuesday, 20th April, 2021. We will ensure that all social distancing procedures and facilities for sanitising are available, however the usual refreshments will not be provided (so bring a flask and a mask).
It is possible that this meeting will not be allowed due to any restrictions at that time. Unfortunately, due to the reasons I have already given, it is necessary to arrange these meetings several weeks in advance. I would urge anyone who is planning on attending the AGM to contact me, your Secretary before attending (a couple of days before) to ensure that the meeting will be going ahead as planned.
17. PROPOSED CAMPAIGN (Subtitled “Quarterly Rant”)
What have you done to entertain yourselves in the latest lock-down? Well I am the first to admit that I have watched two times as much television as I usually do. I really had to physically force myself to type that last sentence because my proposed campaign is in support of what I consider basic words in the English language, these are the words: Once and Twice – I do admit that to take things further and advocate for more use of the word Thrice (three times) is taking things a bit too far – it does not roll off the tongue like the other two. I do admit that the famous song lyrics “Once, twice, thrice a lady” does not quite work as well as the original.
I have however noticed that when it comes to the use of these two terms that announcers on the TV and certainly any adverts I am not quick enough to fast-forward through use the terms one time and two times as opposed to the totally adequate once and twice. This is a growing trend that has to stop immediately for the sake of my sanity if not the English language in general (perhaps too late for one, but still hopes for the other – you decide which).
Now, I am not advocating we all storm the Capital Building in protest, even though it is probably where this particular corruption of the English language originated. Nor do I really see why it is up to a patriotic Welshman to start this campaign, but something has to be done before we lose these lovely words from general usage.
For now please just use these lovely, simple words and encourage their use by family members and when your grandchildren look at you perplexed at your use of the terms once and twice, you can answer saying “well, that’s what we used to say in my day”.
Page 7 “So”, don’t get me started on the reasoning behind every politician on the planet starting the answer to any question they are asked with the word “So” as though that is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth – don’t they know that we know that they do not really know what they are talking about and have just made up an answer that they think will fill the space that the interviewer will give them and believe that they can deny in a couple of weeks’ time, constantly repeating the same phrases but never coming close to answering the question asked? But that is perhaps a campaign for another day. Had not noticed any of the above? – well, you will now!
18. CONTINUING HEALTH CARE
A legal action has been raised against the Government by Rear Admiral Philip MATHIAS and his campaign team, which include several retired police officers regarding the NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) scandal.
Unlike Social Care, which is means-tested, it is the legal responsibility of the NHS to fully fund an individual’s healthcare in any setting outside of a hospital, if they have an ongoing serious illness such as severe dementia.
The application for a Judicial Review claims that NHS England has failed in this legal duty and has unlawfully denied tens of thousands of very ill people the CHC funding to which they are entitled, often with devastating emotional and financial consequences.
Further information can be found at: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/the-nhs-continuing-healthcare-scandal https://www.nhschcscandal.co.uk
This Continuing Healthcare funding scandal will I am sure, have impacted on many NARPO members and their families, with devastating emotional and financial consequences and I would encourage you to support this campaign to make sure people are treated fairly at the time they need it most.
19. MINERS’ STRIKE ARCHIVE
NARPO has expressed its concerns about South Yorkshire Police’ decision to open their “Miners’ Strike Archive”. Those concerns including the fact that many of those involved would now be elderly and particularly vulnerable and that NARPO had a responsibility to protect our Members, also that a full Data Protection Impact Assessment has to be undertaken before publication of any archive in order to gauge the possible effect on our members.
It is fair to say that these discussions are ongoing, however I think it is also fair to say that even though the dispute took place many years ago, in some communities there are still strong feelings about police involvement in the dispute and when we see what effects Social Media have on people’s actions today, such actions can have long reaching effects on people caught-up in this and other disputes. So it is only fair that great consideration goes into such an Archive, especially when the decision to release such information is made by persons two generations on from that dispute who never saw the trauma and it has to be said hatred generated by the dispute. They say that time is a great healer, but perhaps not quite yet in some places.
Please stay well, stay safe and stay in touch with each other
Page 8