NUMBER 9 – SPRING 2024
West Mercia Group Officers – 2023/24
Chair: Valerie Farmer – 01684 569266 – valerie.farmer@tiscali.co.uk
Vice Chair: Malcolm Moore – 01531 660457 – malcolm.m.a.moore@btinternet.com
Treasurer: Helen Connelly – 01905 830451 – helenfconnelly12@gmail.com
Secretary: David Humphreys – 01562 631188 – dnhumphreys@gmail.com (David also covers Membership matters)
WEST MERCIA GROUP IN ACTION
West Mercia Group began life in February 2022 following the merger of the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Group and the closed Shropshire Group. We have 776 members in the Three Counties. CSPA nationally has about 40,000 members.
Our informal quarterly meetings last no more than 2 hours. Those at Hereford, Wellington and Worcester are preceded by an optional pub lunch. Meetings end with tea and biscuits.
We plan to complement the in-person meetings with occasional online gatherings using the free Zoom platform. The Zoom link will be sent to everyone in our 140 strong email group. If you wish to join our email group, please contact the Group Secretary. We also produce a quarterly newsletter which we aim to issue at least 3 weeks before each quarterly meeting.
PAYMENT OF YOUR CIVIL SERVICE PENSION – MyCSP
MyCSP pays your Civil Service pension. Its contact details are: MyCSP, PO Box 2017, Liverpool, L69 2BU; Phone: 0300 123 6666 (Mon-Fri: 0830 -1800). Full information about the pension scheme is on the scheme website at: https://civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk including various “what to expect” guides. You can also register for the Civil Service Pension Portal, which gives online access to your pension information.
If you experience any problems with your pension, which MyCSP can’t or won’t resolve, please contact the Group Secretary for help and initial advice. More complicated matters will be referred to the CSPA Pensions & Personal Case Manager to pursue.
The Cabinet Office has awarded a 10-year contract to manage the Civil Service pension scheme to Capita plc from September 2025. Capita managed the scheme for some years before MyCSP became responsible in 2014. CSPA will be closely involved with the Cabinet Office to ensure that the new arrangements proceed smoothly. You can expect updates in “The Pensioner” quarterly magazine and from the Cabinet Office in “Pension News”. The pension scheme, which is on a statutory basis, is unaffected by this contract and it remains the responsibility of the Cabinet Office.
WEST MERCIA GROUP MEETINGS IN 2024
· 2.00pm on Monday 18 March at Quaker Meetings, 1 Sansome Walk, Worcester
· 1.30pm on Wednesday 20 March at Shrewsbury United Reformed Church
· 2.00pm on Monday 17 June at Eignbrook United Reformed Church, Hereford
· 1.30pm on Wednesday 19 June at Wellington Methodist Church.
· 2.00pm on Monday 16 September at Quaker Meetings, Worcester
· 1.30pm on Wednesday 18 September at Shrewsbury United Reformed Church.
· 2.00pm on Monday 9 December 2024 at Quaker Meetings, Worcester.
The two March meetings constitute the Group AGM. Reminders will appear in the newsletters, and members of our email group will receive copies of the meeting papers.
LATER LIFE AMBITIONS (LLA) MANIFESTO – “STANDING BY PENSIONERS”
LLA represents over 250,000 members of the CSPA, the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, and the National Association of Retired Police Officers. Its manifesto – https://www.laterlifeambitions.co.uk/manifesto – was launched at a Parliamentary event in November 2023 and sets out our vision for a better future for the 11 million older people in the UK. LLA has developed an election toolkit, the key element of which is a template letter/email to be sent to all MPs. We have tidied up the template and our version is below. Please feel free to personalise it. The easiest way to communicate with an MP is by email using the contact details available from https://www.parliament.uk. Otherwise, write to him or her by name at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. Please let the Group Secretary have a copy of any reply you receive.
If you need a Word version of the template letter/email, the Group Secretary will provide one on request. There are 12 MPs in our area, and we need every one of them to get letters from their constituents.
Suggested Letter/Email to MPs
As one of your constituents, and a retired public servant, I write to you today about the challenges facing people in later life.
I am a member of Later Life Ambitions (LLA), which brings together the collective voices of over 250,000 older people through three organisations – the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, the Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance and the National Association of Retired Police Officers – to campaign on a wide range of issues to improve the lives of older people. LLA seeks bold and forward-looking action from our political leaders to address the challenges facing older people. We urge you to recognise the value of older people, and provide an aspirational, ambitious future for everyone in later life.
Later Life Ambitions has drawn up a detailed “Manifesto for Later Life”, with six aims, which I hope you will find the time to read – https://www.laterlifeambitions.co.uk/manifesto The Manifesto calls for the next Government to:
• Follow the lead of Northern Ireland and Wales, and create a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing for England, and encourage the appointment of one for Scotland, to hold the respective Governments to account, and provide a voice for older people
• Introduce a National Care Service, integrated with the NHS, free at the point of delivery
• Combat digital exclusion, by maintaining long-term access to cash and cash-free withdrawal services, and supporting banks, businesses, and public bodies to develop more accessible tools
• Maintain the State Pension Triple Lock; protect the State Pension age by tying it to healthy life expectancy rates; and uprate Pension Credit in line with the State Pension to reflect the cost of living more equitably.
• Strengthen the Lifetime Homes Standard into a National Housing Strategy to provide accessible and affordable housing across all tenures.
• Increase investment in local bus and rail services; uprate the concessionary arrangements; and improve physical accessibility, safety and reliability of services.
I hope you will give your full support to these six worthy aims and look forward to hearing from you soon.
THE CHARITY FOR CIVIL SERVANTS (CfCS)
CfCS, formerly the Civil Service Benevolent Fund, helps current and former civil servants with whatever problems they may have. Its vision is of a lifelong community of people offering effective support for each other when life takes a turn for the worse. Support includes financial assistance and a range of services, including help with bereavement, residential care, relationships, caring, dementia, and long-term illness. It works with specialist organisations – such as Macmillan, Dementia UK and Relate – and signposts other helpful advice.
Find out more by visiting the CfCS website www.foryoubyyou.org.uk or call its free confidential helpline on 0800 056 2424. CfCS is a charity and not a membership organisation, so all serving and former civil servants can ask it for help.
NATIONAL PENSIONERS CONVENTION (NPC)
CSPA is affiliated to the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), the largest pensioners organisation in the UK. NPC campaigns for and promotes the welfare and interests of all pensioners, as a way of securing dignity, respect and financial security in retirement. It organises rallies, lobbies of MPs, and makes submissions to Government on policies affecting older people. Its Biennial Delegate Conference, which next meets in March 2024, elects the NPC national officers and determines its policies for the coming 2 years. NPC also stages an annual 2-day “Pensioners Convention” every June in Blackpool.
NPC’s monthly bulletin “Campaign” is sent by the Group Secretary to the 140 members of our email group. Visit the NPC website at https://www.npcuk.org to receive it. The latest edition of Campaign covers digital poverty, the opening of NPC’s “250 Club”, the campaign for a Commissioner for Older People and much more.
Our Group is affiliated to NPC’s regional organisation, the West Midlands Pensioners Convention (WMPC). We attend its meetings in Birmingham. WMPC’s informative website is at https://wmpc.org.uk and it produces a quarterly newsletter. Its Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/7125023377569919.
CSPA OFFERS & SERVICES
The main CSPA membership offers and services are:
• Financial planning advice by Lighthouse (08000 85 85 90).
• Motor Source is a competitive car purchase and leasing service.
• MyCarNeedsA gives access to over 4000 vetted garages.
• CSIS home and motor Insurance and the new CSIS travel insurance.
• Prepaid MyCashBack cards offer between 3% and 15% cashback discounts on purchases from stores like M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Boots, Argos, B&Q, Homebase and Curry’s/PC World.
• Audiology and hearing services by Hearing Star (0800 0323 771).
• Lyons Davidson Solicitors (01752 300 584) for free legal advice.
• Discounted lost luggage protection scheme (TRACE ME Smart ID).
• BC Technologies provide free computer support (01369 706656).
Some of the offers are accessed online, but many can still be accessed by phone. The Group Secretary will help with access to the offers and services, in the Members’ Area of the national website at https://www.cspa.co.uk and in “The Pensioner” magazine.
CSPA – PROTECTING WHAT YOU’VE EARNED
West Mercia Group brings together nearly 780 local CSPA members, with a view to stimulating interest and support for CSPA’s aims. We meet quarterly in various locations, issue a quarterly Newsletter, communicate additionally through our 140-strong email group, and through occasional Zoom gatherings. We know that not everyone can attend meetings in our far-flung area. So, if there are local concerns – e.g. bus services, social care, health care, public services such as libraries and public toilets – please contact a Group Officer.
We rely on volunteers to keep our Group going. Without “new blood” our long-term future as a Group cannot be assured. If you’ve got some spare time and an interest in older person’s issues, we can put it to good use.
CSPA is a membership organisation. Please spread the good news to all your retired civil and public service contacts. The discounted cost of our CSIS travel insurance may well save them more than the CSPA annual subscription. Prospective members can download an application form at the national website https://www.cspa.co.uk and post it free to CSPA HQ; or call 020 8688 8418 for a membership pack; or join easily and quickly online. CSPA also has a Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/cspalliance .
If you believe we can do things differently/better, locally and/or nationally, please tell us.
