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Last Updated on Monday, 20 January 2025 18:30

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NARPO SUBSCRPTION INCREASE

As from Monday 1st January 2025 there is an increase in the NARPO subscription - the increase is to £26.76 (previously £26.26) per annum (£2.23 per month).

Those who are in receipt of a police pension from Dyfed-Powys Police need to take no action as the monthly subscription will be updated by payroll and continue to be automatically deducted.

For those of you who retired from another force, linked organisation or are members not in receipt of a Police Pension, and our Branch is your main or only branch, you will have to make arrangements for the subscription amount to be paid direct.

Those who are additional members of our Branch there currently is no additional charge.

For those who wish to pay direct our bank account details are:

Account name: NARPO Dyfed Powys Branch 

Sort Code: 40-16-23 

Account number: 51441183

BEREAVEMENT NOTICE

Mr. Huw Jones (Rtd. PC140) passed away peacefully on Thursday 9th January at Ty Bryngwyn Hospice Llanelli. He is survived by his wife Menna, Son Colwyn (Rtd. PC303) and daughter, Llinos.
Huw's funeral will take place at 11:000 am on Friday 31st January at Llanelli Crematorium. Family flower only, donation in Huws name can be made to Ty Bryngwyn Hospice Llanelli The funeral directors are Arthur Cambery Alban Road, Llanelli, SA15 1ES
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Mr Henry A Jones (Rtd. Supt) passed away peacefully on Saturday 14th December at Bronglais Hospital, Aberystwyth where he had been a patient for a few weeks. 
Henry served at various stations within the force area and was Deputy Commandant at Cwmbran PTC. He joined the Mid-Wales Constabulary and was a committed supporter of the Mid-Wales Constabulary Association. He held the post of President from 2017 until he relinquished the position in 2023.   
The funeral will be held  on Friday 17th January 2025 at St Cadfan’s Church, Tywyn followed by burial at Aberdyfi Cemetery. (Family flowers only). Further information regarding the funeral director and donations will be added later.

FORCE DEVELOPMENT LOTTERY

The list of prize winners for the December and Christmas Cracker draws can be found in the Members Only section.

BRITISH POLICE RUGBY V ARMED SERVICES

The below flyer has been received from Neil Mitchell a former member of West Midlands Police who is the Director of Rugby of British Police Rugby.

2024 NARPO NEWSLETTER
The latest newsletter can be found by going to the Members Only section and downloading the document as a PDF file. 
The newsletter has been emailed to NARPO HQ at Wakefield who will arrange for it to be printed and posted to members without an email address

PHOTO ALBUM

The branch executive has decided to remove photographs of Huw Edwards from the website after the former broadcaster pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

The photographs were taken in 2018 when he compered the 50th anniversary event at FHQ.

PENSION SCHEME SANCTION CHARGES

The following has been received from Phil Addicott (Secretary) DPP NARPO:

There have been a number of re circulations from other forces and NARPO branches regarding the issue of Pension Scheme Sanction Charges being refunded.

The Scheme Sanction Charge is a charge related to an unauthorised payment.  An unauthorised payment happens when a commutation lump sum is above the Pension Commencement Lump Sum (PCLS) threshold.  Unauthorised payments have been happening since 2011 when commutation factors arose, and the size of the lump sum increased.

There is a member charge of 40% of the unauthorised payment, and a 15% charge known as scheme sanction charge, which should be paid by the scheme, but some scheme managers have been passing this charge to the member.

I have made enquiries with our force and assured that Dyfed Powys have never charged an officer with a sanction charge.

If you retired from another force, I am told that the matter is either resolved or being looked into.

IMPORTANT POLICE MUTUAL UPDATE

The following information regarding Police Mutual has been posted on the NARPO website:

As a valued Police Mutual supporter, I am delighted to share that we have today completed on the sale of Police Mutual’s general insurance and healthcare business to Bspoke Insurance Group Limited (Bspoke Group).

The move helps protect the long-term future of Police Mutual, so that it can invest and grow to better serve the ever-changing needs of the Police community.

Bspoke Group is based in Leeds and brings together a collection of specialist insurance businesses offering a wide range of products and services both direct to customers and to other companies. Bspoke Group has a deep understanding of the Police Mutual business, its ethos and the importance of protecting them to allow the brand to flourish in the future.

Why is this sale good news?

• Today’s announcement enables us to grow and invest in our customers and the financial well-being of Police colleagues for the long-term
• Bspoke Group is committed to the Police Mutual brand and wants to continue to support the values of Police Mutual through financial education, the Police Mutual Foundation, which includes respite breaks and careline and the ongoing sponsorship of UK events.
• The additional investment and support provided by Bspoke Group will allow us to develop our products and services so that we can continue to meet your needs

All Police Mutual customers will today be receiving an email update containing this news, further information is also available on our website www.policemutual.co.uk.

If you have any questions about this announcement, please contact me directly.

We hope you agree that this is an exciting new chapter for Police Mutual and we look forward to sharing more updates with you in the coming months.

Kerry McMahon-White (Managing Director)

Police Mutual

DECISION: UNINCORPORATED V INCORPORATED LEGAL STRUCTURES

For the past 12 months the issue of incorporation has demanded much attention by the National Association of Retired Police Officers. Open meetings and workshops have been held at venues around the country to discuss the implications of incorporation.

In the eyes of the law, an organisation is either unincorporated or incorporated.

WHAT IS AN UNINCORPORATED GROUP?

An unincorporated group is legally understood as a collection of individuals.

This means that an unincorporated group has no legal identity outside of the people who are on its management committee.

As a result, the members of an unincorporated group are personally liable for the group’s actions.

Unincorporated groups cannot enter into contracts in their own right. Instead, a member must enter the contract in their own name.

WHAT IS AN INCORPORATED GROUP?

An incorporated group is legally understood as a group which has its own legal entity. In other words, incorporated groups have legal standing that is similar to that of a person.

This means that members of incorporated groups are not personally liable for the group’s actions. It also means that the group can enter into contracts in its own name.

DECISION:

Mr Peter Davies (Vice Chair) represented Dyfed-Powys NARPO at the annual conference held at Blackpool on Friday 8th September when the matter was debated.

At the conclusion of the debate,a vote was taken on the National Executive’s motion that NARPO transfers to become a ‘Company Limited’ i.e. an Incorporated Group..

The motion was carried with a vote of 76% in favour (210 out of the 276 present).

The change is not expected to be finalised until next year.

NARPO PERKS

NARPO are incredibly excited to announce our new partnership with Perkjam, granting our members free, exclusive access to over a thousand offers, discounts, and freebies from big-name brands and local businesses.

The NARPO perks platform, powered by Perkjam, covers all aspects of life from entertainment, technology, travel, automotive and more.

All existing NARPO offers are also available via the new perks platform, housing all available savings in one place.

To register, please visit https://narpo.perkjam.com

NEW PHOTO ALBUM

Due to technical issues, it has not been possible to post photos into the Photo Album section and despite numerous attempts to rectify the problem, the problem has not been fixed.

Therefore, the DPP NARPO website now has TWO Photo Albums.

To access photos posted on the website from October 2021 onwards go to the Menu Bar and click on NEW PHOTO ALBUM

To access photos posted on the website pre October 2021, go to the Menu Bar and click on OLD PHOTO ALBUM.

NARPO CALLS FOR ACTION ON AGE-RELATED PENSION DISCRIMINATION

NARPO has urged the Government to ensure the retired are treated the same as those of working age, when resolving pension discrimination.

This follows the 2018 Court of Appeal’s judgment that found the Government had discriminated against public sector workers in their policy of transitional protection, which was part of the 2015 reforms to public service pension schemes.

Following this case, the Government said it would be adopting a ‘deferred choice underpin’ approach, offering affected members a choice between legacy and reformed scheme benefits.

However, it has since become clear that pension scheme members who have already retired will now have to wait at least a further two years to see the discrimination they have suffered remedied.

Unlike members still working, those who can now retire will receive the pension of their choice immediately, however, those members who have already retired are being asked to wait while pension legislation passes through the Houses of Parliament and pension schemes are able to act on it. This is predicted to be around October 2023.

NARPO is calling for this to be rectified as soon as possible to avoid individuals having to live on a reduced pension and suffer for further years.

Chief executive Steve Edwards said: “There is no logical reason why those already retired cannot have their cases dealt with as soon as practicably possible. The original judgement from the courts on this matter found that there had been age-based discrimination, to continue to deny retired members the pension they have earned is not in keeping with the spirit of that judgment.

“That’s why we have called on the Treasury to urgently look at this issue and stop this continued discrimination against older retired public sector workers.”