It's still tough

Area for current parents, past parents and future parents of Blues or Old Blues.

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YadaYada
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Re: It's still tough

Post by YadaYada »

An increase, big sigh. Got first pay slip today as well since teacher pension contributions changed - income dropped by £45 a month, so coupled with the monthly increase in school fees, there is more belt-tightening to come.
SAS
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Re: It's still tough

Post by SAS »

Sumatt's wrong there, I reckon.
YadaYada
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Re: It's still tough

Post by YadaYada »

Pension contributions are non-essential - so the assessment is on income before pension contributions.

I guess I can opt out of the teachers pension scheme although I have never asked - it just gets taken at source and somehow I think I might be glad of them in the future - I dunno.
SAS
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Re: It's still tough

Post by SAS »

I got some gobbledeegook from my county council employers (you know who they are) about pension contribs. No idea what they meant and with the peanuts I earn from them it is hardly worth seeing an accountant to find out! Doesn't seem fair (still) that Ch do not take the contribs into account as we have no choice (as far as I can see) about them being taken. I suppose the theory is that we benefit in the end? I don't think you CAN opt out, can you?
YadaYada
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Re: It's still tough

Post by YadaYada »

I don't know if I can opt out or not - presumably you'd have to opt out of the whole thing - ie. no employers contributions as well. To be honest, I WANT a pension! So I am ok about paying it into. I guess it's one of those things about CH that they will have some people paying into a pension and some who aren't.

There was no information in the letter about what these new allowances for water, council tax and insurance are. Given that we have always had to send this information in the past I was expecting some information about how they had calculated it this year. Full fees have been set at £27,000 for next year though.
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J.R.
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Re: It's still tough

Post by J.R. »

The above seems somewhat strange to me.

I receive a County Council pension, (as do most teachers), and my pension INCREASE for this coming year has been set at 5.2 % !
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
ailurophile
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Re: It's still tough

Post by ailurophile »

YadaYada wrote;
There was no information in the letter about what these new allowances for water, council tax and insurance are. Given that we have always had to send this information in the past I was expecting some information about how they had calculated it this year.
Have you asked? Every year CH seem to give out less information about how parental contributions are being calculated - surely we have a right to know!!

Someone I know reckons that the standard allowance will only apply to new entrants, but that doesn't seem to make sense as we've all been told the same thing. And if the Counting House have not changed the method of assessment for existing parents, how will they know what we are paying for Council Tax, water and insurance when we have been instructed not to submit this information? It all seems rather a muddle. Perhaps if enough parents actually contact the Counting House and ask for an explanation of how the standard allowance is calculated, they might issue some sort of clarification.
YadaYada
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Re: It's still tough

Post by YadaYada »

I was going to give them a ring and ask and then someone kindly sent me a PM with the info ;)

We DO need some transparency- every April is a scary and worrying time as we wait for the letter to fall on the mat with whatever calculation CH has made.
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Fairy
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Re: It's still tough

Post by Fairy »

Yadayada, please could you post the information on here?
ailurophile
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Re: It's still tough

Post by ailurophile »

Presumably whoever PM'd YadaYada might have a good reason for not wanting to post their information on a public Forum.

But isn't it ridiculous that we have to rely on some form of Chinese whispers to try to fathom how our contributions are being calculated?! Surely the Foundation should be communicating clear information to parents, which is why I suggest we should all contact the Counting House and ask for clarification!
YadaYada
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Re: It's still tough

Post by YadaYada »

The above seems somewhat strange to me.
Not sure which part seems strange - I'll clarify if you clarify!!
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J.R.
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Re: It's still tough

Post by J.R. »

YadaYada wrote:
The above seems somewhat strange to me.
Not sure which part seems strange - I'll clarify if you clarify!!

Maybe I mis-interpreted the general tone of the posts above mine.

There was mention of Teachers/County Councils pensions etc.

In these days of austerity, (generally caused by bankers and the EU money-grabbers), I was somewhat surprised to get such a high increase in my pension payments, given that some pension funds, (and wage payers), haven't given an increase of a couple of years now.
John Rutley. Prep B & Coleridge B. 1958-1963.
YadaYada
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Re: It's still tough

Post by YadaYada »

Ah! I was talking about the increased contributions to teachers pensions that came into effect this month.
CHDad
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Re: It's still tough

Post by CHDad »

D.S wanted to stay at home after leave weekend and was a bit tearful. This is the first time in nearly 2 years he has been like this and I always thought it would get easier. It's still tough!
CHDad
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Re: It's still tough

Post by CHDad »

Ho hum - he seems happier today although he now thinks he has chosen the wrong GCSEs!
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