The newspaper for retired BBC Pension Scheme members • October 2017 • Issue 5 PROSPERO JIMMY GRANT & THE SATURDAY CLUB PAGE 8 PENSION SCHEME | PENSIONS FRIENDSHIPS AND FRAUD: THE 2017 BBC VOLUNTEER VISITOR CONFERENCE A thoroughly enjoyable BBC Volunteer Visitor Conference closed in Cardiff on 8 August, with the 100 visitors who attended generally agreeing that it was one of the best yet. drawing up either of these important legal documents. Interestingly, she said that people these days also need to consider their digital assets in a Will – so, for example, if you have an Amazon account or a Netflix subscription what happens to those on your death? Hear hear The next presentation was by Clare Kewney, an audiologist working with UK Hearing Care, who spoke about the importance of getting your hearing tested. ‘Hearing loss is an important contributor to social isolation because our hearing is our link to the world,’ she said. ‘From a safety point of view, too, hearing loss sometimes means that people can’t hear higher frequency sounds like fire alarms.’ Clare thinks that we should all have our hearing tested regularly, just like we have regular check-ups on our teeth or eyes. heryl Miles, the Volunteer Visitor Scheme The Act also changes the means test that is used to On average people take 10 years before taking action on co-ordinator and organiser of the conference, decide how much a person should pay towards their hearing loss – so it’s important that when they do go for Csays she was delighted to have recruited new care costs. Currently, a person’s capital and savings help they get the help they need, or else they might give visitors in several areas, including Birmingham, which below £14,250 are disregarded in the means test. up and struggle on for another 10 years! Someone with between £14,250 and £23,250 in capital had been without a visitor for a long time. The two new The UK Hearing Care website has a lot more visitors for Birmingham have had a great response to and savings will get some help from the local authority information: ukhearingcare.co.uk, or for more the letters of introduction sent to the pensioners in towards care costs; capital and savings above £23,250 information call Freephone 0808 120 6621. their areas. means a person has to fund all of their own social care. Ageing well: tackling loneliness After April 2020 the £23,250 upper limit will be raised The visitors are retired BBC employees who provide The next speaker, Dr Allison Smith, Head of Strategy to £118,000; the lower limit will be raised to £17,000; and friendship to BBC pensioners aged 70 and above, those and Development at the Royal Voluntary Service, looked anyone with assets of between £17,000 and £118,000 recently bereaved or anyone in poor health. at the growing problem of loneliness in older people will be entitled to some financial support according to The conference aims to enhance the visitors’ and what the Service is doing to help. a sliding scale. understanding of the issues that affect their ‘visitees’, so First, Allison outlined the scale of the problem: around Scam awareness they can offer a better service to these people, many of 10% of older people are chronically lonely (which means As recent issues of Prospero have highlighted, whom may be in a vulnerable position. The conference they often feel lonely). also gives the visitors an opportunity to network with scammers are increasingly targeting older people. others and share tips and ideas – great for the eight The second speaker of Day One was Tony Blake, a Met Older people who are lonely are 3.4 times more likely to first-time visitors who attended this year. police officer of 30 years’ standing, who impressed the suffer from depression, 1.9 times more likely to develop audience with an energetic presentation highlighting dementia, and have an increased risk of developing This year’s agenda included a varied mix of speakers the various clever ways that fraudsters have of conning heart disease or having a stroke. from a number of different organisations who deal with you out of your money. Older people who are lonely are, on average: issues affecting older people, including fraud awareness, ‘You can’t trust anyone anymore,’ he said, bluntly, and hearing loss and estate planning. • 1.8 times more likely to visit their GP then he showed how easy it is for fraudsters to get hold The first speaker of the opening day was Roger of your personal data. • 1.6 times more likely to visit A&E Hatherell, a senior financial consultant who has a regular • 1.3 times more likely to have emergency admissions, spot at the conference, looking at benefits for the Tony has provided an article for us, on the next page, and elderly and the issue of long-term care. which covers the main points raised in his presentation. • 3.5 times more likely to enter local authority-funded Care Act 2020 Scheme branding residential care. As we all know, the issue of long-term care (‘dementia After an evening of networking and sharing stories, tax’) was a thorny issue during the recent general Ian Cutter opened Day 2 with an update from the The final presentation of the day was by Rostam Kilgour, election. As Roger pointed out, the legislation is due to BBC Pensions & Benefits Centre. This included a ‘grand the newest member-nominated Trustee (MNT) to join change in 2020 anyway, with the introduction of the reveal’ of the BBC Pension Scheme’s new brand, which the board of the BBC Pension Scheme. Rostam gave a Care Act (which was pushed back from its original had only just been seen for the first time in the August brief introduction to his day job as an editor on TV issue of Prospero. implementation date of April 2016). News, explained how and why he became a Scheme Ian also reminded the delegates that BBC pensioners Trustee, and also spoke movingly about why he The Care Act will set a cap of £72,000, which means can now access all their pension information online, at supports voluntary organisations like the BBC Visiting that no one will have to pay any more for their eligible . Anyone who has lost their Scheme, having personally experienced the huge impact care needs to be met once they have spent a total of bbc.co.uk/mypension registration details can call the pension service line on that volunteers can make on people’s lives. £72,000. It does not include someone’s ‘hotel costs’ 029 2032 2811. (i.e. bed and board) if they are living in a care home. Rostam then closed the 2017 conference, These would still be charged separately even after He was followed by a solicitor, Claire Binnersley, who thanking Cheryl for her hard work in reaching the cap, but hotel costs will also be capped, spoke about Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney, organising what was an interesting at £12,000 a year. highlighting some key issues to consider before and informative two days. 2 PROSPERO Take Five to Stop Fraud Prospero is provided free of charge to retired Scheme members, or to their spouses and dependants. by Tony Blake, Senior Fraud Prevention Officer, Prospero provides a source of news on former Dedicated Card & Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) colleagues, developments at the BBC and pension issues, plus classified adverts. It is available online at bbc.co.uk/mypension Last year, £2 million was lost to financial fraud every day. Fraudsters often want you to feel panicked, rushed, It’s a staggering statistic, but it might not be a surprise frustrated and flustered and that’s exactly where you To advertise in Prospero, please see page 12. given the amount of scam phone calls and emails that don’t want to be. The banking industry, in partnership constantly bombard us all. In fact, official figures reveal with government and police, launched a campaign Please send your editorial contributions, or that financial fraud and cyber-crime are now the most called Take Five to Stop Fraud. comments/feedback, to: prevalent crimes in the UK. Prospero, BBC Pension and Benefits Centre, Our central message is whenever you receive an Broadcasting House, Cardiff CF5 2YQ The fraudsters and their scams are getting more unexpected phone call, email or text, STOP and TAKE sophisticated and more believable, so we can’t just bury FIVE to think whether they really are who they claim to Email: [email protected] our heads in the sand and pretend it won’t happen to be. Often the only way to check is by contacting them Please make sure that any digital pictures you send us. And we should never assume we are too clever to fall back on a phone number you know to be correct, not are scanned at 300dpi. Please also note that the for such frauds. Gone are the days when most scam one you are given. maximum word count for obituaries is 350 words. emails had terrible grammar and poor English. Take Five is about knowing it is fine to stop a While fraudsters use a wide range of scams, often these conversation or not to respond to an email or text so employ a tactic called ‘social engineering’, a new term for you can take a moment to think and take back control Contents a method used by confidence tricksters for centuries. My of the situation. By doing so, we can all help to beat favourite definition for it is the clever manipulation of the the fraudsters.