GROUP OFFICERS:
PRESIDENT: Mike Card
CHAIR: Brian Sturtevant
VICE CHAIR: Derek Williams
SECRETARY: Sylvia Sturtevant
TREASURER: Vacant
SOCIAL SECRETARY: Brian Barton
EDITOR: Ralph Groves
Dear Colleague,
WELCOME TO THE SPRING 2024 GROUP NEWSLETTER
Belated New Year greetings to all our members. We Hope you have survived the storms without suffering too much or any damage. Near where I live several neighbours have lost fences and trees and roads were blocked by debris. The local services were working overtime to get everything cleared up and we very much appreciated the extra effort they put in so that we could all get around.
The group will resume its monthly meetings on 14 February at the Orchard, Brighton Road, Crawley with a visit from Christine Haswell, CSPA’s Pensions Officer, commencing at 1030 with refreshments. Christine represents the CSPA on the National Pensioners Convention and Public Service Pensioners Council as well as taking up personal pension cases with the Cabinet Office on behalf of members. She will be a very interesting speaker. We adjourn to a local pub for lunch afterwards.
The group Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on 13 March, unfortunately Sally Tsoukaris our new General Secretary cannot come as she has a family wedding in South Africa to attend, but David Luxton the Deputy General Secretary will take her place as the AGM guest speaker. David knows the group well and is a very entertaining speaker. He will be bringing us up to date on CSPA policies and activities.
The highlight of the Spring meetings will be on 10 April when the Sussex Police, send an officer from the Specialist Crime Command, Bernadette Lawrie BEM, to advise us how to protect ourselves from Fraud and Scams which are particularly targeted at older people. TV programmes and the media often recount horrible stories where older people have been scammed out of considerable sums of money. Bernadette will tell us how to protect ourselves and alert us to what scams are currently operating in Sussex. I am sure members will gain a lot from this meeting and as it could be popular please let us know if you are coming along to ensure we have enough seats available. Either email or phone any of the group officers listed in this newsletter to let us know you are attending.
2025 is likely to be a General Election year and the Alliance will be gearing up to lobby all prospective parliamentary candidates not only nationally but locally as well to advise them of CSPA policies and concerns and to seek their support. We will be getting material from CSPA head office to distribute but we will also be alerting candidates to our local concerns as well. The group covers 7 Parliamentary constituencies so that is a fair task so if any members can assist us that would be greatly appreciated. We have in the past organised a Hustings for the Crawley constituency and it was a great success. If we can do so again it will help members make up their minds who to vote for and give us an opportunity to let all of the political parties know our views. As soon as we know the date of the General Election we can start to plan and let you know.
For many members they will be voting in a new constituency. In case you have not heard the Boundaries Commission has been re-drawing the existing boundaries because of population increases and for our local area has created a new constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield. Parts of Crawley, Horsham, Mid-Sussex, and Lewes have moved into this new constituency, which will be contested for the first time at the next General Election. Already the political pundits , projecting forward from the local authority election results are forecasting a Labour gain in Crawley, a Liberal Democrat gain in Mid-Sussex, with close finishes between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in Horsham and Lewes and a Conservative gain in the new East Grinstead and Uckfield constituency. We shall see but clearly all candidates will be hotly contesting these new seats so it is an ideal opportunity to press our policies.
The existing Local Authorities remain so your local Town or District Council remains the same and if you want information about which Parliamentary Constituency you are in following the boundary changes the Electoral Office of each Council can advise.
It is therefore going to be a busy year ahead and your support will be very much appreciated. So come and join us at one of our meetings and look out for more information regarding our election campaigns.
Brian Sturtevant
Group Chair
GROUP MEETINGS, GUEST SPEAKERS, AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES FOR 2024
The group has resumed meeting on the second Wednesday of the month at The Orchard, Brighton Road, Crawley, and has an interesting programme of events lined up for members. Refreshments are available from 1030 and meetings start at 1045 and finish by 1230. A meeting charge of £3.00 is made to cover the administrative, refreshments and meeting room hire costs. At the end of each meeting those present adjourn retire to a local pub for a spot of lunch.
January No meeting
14 February – Guest Speaker – Christine Haswell CSPA National Pensions Officer and Secretary to the Public Services Pensioners Council, will bring us up to date on pension issues
13 March – The Group Annual General Meeting (AGM) the CSPA Deputy General Secretary, David Luxton, will be attending as guest speaker, who will update us on current issues facing the Alliance.
10 April – Guest Speaker – Bernadette Lawrie, the Sussex Police Safeguarding Officer will tell us about Scams, and Fraud, particularly affecting older people and how to avoid them. The meeting could prove to be very popular so if you do not normally attend group
meetings please advise the group Secretary if you are coming along so that enough seats are available.
8 May – Guest Speaker – Graham Feast, Road Safety Consultant, talks about Transport, Traffic and Road Safety.
12 June – Guest Speaker – Chris Green, talks about the achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
10 July – Guest Speaker – Mike Lawler, CSPA National Vice President, talks to us about his travels.
August – No meeting due to the summer lunch being held, date and arrangements to be advised.
CAMPAIGN ISSUES AND UPDATES
Covid and Flu Vaccinations
On behalf of members residing in the Horsham area, Vice-Chair Derek Williams has raised with Horsham local MP Sir Jeremy Quinn, the question of relying on the facilities at Christ’s Hospital School as the main location for Covid and Flu Vaccinations for those over 65, in the Autumn of 2023.
Whilst the facilities at Christ’s Hospital are not in question nor the organisation of the vaccinations themselves, the ability of those without personal transport may have had to rely on family or friends to transport them to the location because there is a very infrequent bus service and despite being on the Horsham to Portsmouth main railway line, the distance from the railway station at Christ’s Hospital is likely to present an unacceptable distance for most older people to walk.
If there are other examples of such possible problems with other locations in the area covered by the group then could members please pass information concerning this issue to Derek Williams.
Pension Issues
Triple-Lock: It is pleasing to note that the Triple-Lock has continued to be applied to the 2024 State Retirement Pension increase from April. This was very much due to the campaigning activities of the CSPA and our partner pensioner organisations. Whether or not the Triple-Lock will continue in future years is reliant upon the outcome of the next General Election. This is because whether or not the Triple-Lock will continue to be used is determined at the start of each new Parliament since the provision for its operation is not set down in legislation.
Civil Service Pensions Administration Contract: Members may recall the problems that were experienced when the Civil Service Pension Scheme was previously administered by ‘Capita.’ Despite the difficulties that CSPA head office had with the volume of mistakes that were being made in pension calculations, and the number of personal cases that arose from said mistakes when Capita was last in charge, it appears that Capita has convinced the Cabinet Office that they are the most suitable contractor to take over the administration of the Civil Service Pension scheme once again. Let us hope the previous difficulties experienced are not repeated.
Advice to all members is to check that the amount of pension in payment is correct and that their CSPA membership is current in case any problems crop up.
GROUP OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE CONTACT POINTS
President: Mike Card Tel: 01273 483577
Chair: Brian Sturtevant Tel: 01342 325245 Email: brian.sturtevant@cspa.co.uk
Vice Chair: Derek Williams Tel: 01403 268205 Email: mad07@btinternet.com
Secretary: Sylvia Sturtevant Tel: 01342 325245 Email: brian.sturtevant@cspa.co.uk
Treasurer: Vacant (See separate report)
Membership Secretary: Margaret Weddell Tel: 01293 536887 Email: margaretweddell30@gmail.com Social Secretary: Brian Barton Tel: 01293 773854 Email: bgbarton@live.co.uk
Newsletter Editor: Ralph Groves Tel:01403 250251 Email: ralph.groves@htbryantbtinternet.com
Committee Member: Faruq Ahmed Tel: 01403 252559 Email: faruqahmed53@larkinscornwallyahoo-com
Committee Member & Regional Representative: Greg Mountain Tel: 01444 211181 Email: greg.mountain@outlook.com
Crawley & District Group website: www.cspa-crawley-group.org.uk CSPA Head Office: Tel: 020 8688 8418 Email: enquiries@cspa.co.uk Website: www.cspa.co.uk
RENEWING MEMBERSHIP OR JOINING THE CSPA CRAWLEY & DISTRICT GROUP
Subscriptions for 2024 are £10 per household. There is no limit on the number of members living in the same address. If you wish to subscribe or donate to the Crawley and District Group, please fill in this form and then send it to the Acting Treasurer, Mike Card at the address shown below.
Name: ………………………………………………………….
Address: …………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Postcode: …………………….. Telephone Number: ……………………………………
Email: ………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Please return to: Mike Card, 13 Garden Street, LEWES. East Sussex, BN7 1JJ
If you would like to subscribe or donate to group funds please enter the amount here:
Subscription to group funds: £
Donation to group funds: £
Total sent to the Treasurer: £
Please send cheques made payable to the ‘Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance Crawley Group’ or use postal orders thank you.
