The first three columns and the fifth column below are copied from a table provided by the Trust, extended with recent increases.  The fourth column is derived from the numbers either side of it and gives the increase as a percentage of what the Trust took the RPI change to be.  This fourth column should not be regarded as very accurate since it is the result of dividing numbers that the Trust rounded to one decimal place before we had them.

The fifth and sixth columns are about RPI change.  This is measured from 3 months before the previous increase date to 3 months before this increase date.  The columns are much the same - the fifth column is the Trust telling us the RPI change, the sixth is what one gets working directly from government statistics.

The seventh column is what a 70% RPI increase would be, worked out solely from government data.  The closeness of match between this column and the third column confirms that the method of calculating increases was indeed what the Trust says it was, give or take the occasional difference in application of the method.

Column eight pro-rates the actual increase (column three) to a roughly equivalent annual rate.  This is not comparable with any of the other columns, but is the number to compare with Council Tax increases, etc.

Column nine is an effort to show how our pension values have eroded.  This does not take account of a special increase delivered to (some?) N-Plan retirees in April 1990.  The column shows that somebody who retired in 1975 or 1976 would now have a pension with buying power about 2/3rds of the one they started with.  If you retired later, the erosion for you would be less.  This column is not about what happened to our pensions in pounds, it is about what the pension would buy, so it goes down with time.

The average company has maintained the value of pensions.  For such a company the last column would remain near 100.

 

DateMonths
between		Pension
Increase		 % of RPI RPI
Increase (Trust)		RPI Increase (Gov) 70%RPI
Increase
(Gov)		Annual
Equiv.		 Erosion
July 75 17.0% 68 25.0%    100
Aug 761320.0% 125 16.0%20.2%14.1% 18.5%100
Oct 77 1412.0% 67 18.0%18.6%13.0% 10.3%94
July 792112.0% 55 22.0%16.5%11.6% 6.9%91
Jun 801115.0% 94 16.0%17.7%12.4% 16.4%89
Jul 811311.0% 92 12.0%16.0%11.2% 10.2%85
Nov 82168.0% 80 10.0%10.5%7.4% 6.0%83
Dec 83134.0% 80 5.0%5.1%3.6% 3.7%82
Apr 85165.0% 83 6.0%5.9%4.1% 3.8%81
Jun 86144.8% 80 6.0%6.0%4.2% 4.1%80
Jan 88194.5% 69 6.5%6.4%4.5% 2.8%79
Jun 89176.4% 70 9.1%9.1%6.4% 4.5%77
Jun 90125.7% 70 8.1%8.1%5.7% 5.7%75
Apr 91105.0% 69 7.2%7.2%5.1% 6.0%74
Apr 92122.9% 71 4.1%4.1%2.9% 2.9%73
Apr 93121.2% 71 1.7%1.7%1.2% 1.2%72
Aug 94163.5% 70 5.0%4.9%3.5% 2.6%71
Oct 95142.6% 72 3.6%3.0%2.1% 2.2%71
Jan 97152.1% 70 3.0%3.2%2.2% 1.7%70
Apr 98153.0% 71 4.2%3.7%2.6% 2.4%70
Oct 99182.4% 71 3.4%3.5%2.5% 1.6%69
Oct 00122.3% 70 3.3%3.3%2.3% 2.3%68
Oct 01121.2% 71  1.6%1.1% 1.2%68
Jan 03151.9% 70  2.7%1.9% 1.5%68
Mar 04142.2% 71  3.1%2.2% 1.9%67
Jun 05152.7% 69  3.8%2.7% 2.2%66
Apr 06 100.9% 60  1.5%1.0% 1.1%66

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