Retirement - Becile

[Becile]

Not got sea legs, lol , what I meant was it's not my primary driver

[Messyshaw]

That was my aim, but I accidentally ended doing another 12 years full time !!!

Now on zero hours - 3 or 4 days a month. Perfect 👌

[Steve]

Me too, although it has taken almost 4 years to get the balance right... I think I'm there... just!!!

[Becile]

So last shift today,  mixed emotions, managed a last shout with my two station crews, hopefully saved a life, guy was airlifted out, but thats what we (you) do (did )

Start of Career ..

.....End of Career

[Aspire]

Congratulations Becile, thank you BFF or your service!! 

[Messyshaw]

Huge congratulations and welcome to this most exclusive club where you can enjoy your hard earned pension whilst watching the grey hairs multiply at a frightening rate and your trouser belt strain from all the good living.

I was very fortunate as I stepped down from operational to do a few years on days (Fire Safety) then stepped down further to retire. To do what you have and to hand over your fire gear and that IT kit and walk away sounds like potentially a tough call, but honestly it gets better. As does your sleep with no pager and much less to worry about at 3 am. 

Good luck to you sir and please do not go AWOL from here 👍

[Becile]

@Messyshaw The misses will enjoy the lack of 3am pagers..She could be heard on many occasions waking me up saying “Ian pager” as she’s a lighter sleeper and I had the pager on gradual increase.lol.

And this was a very pleasing inbox this afternoon.😉

[JonnyHolbs]

Congrats, Becile! Sounds like the last shift was pretty decent also. Enjoy your retirement!

[Dyson]

Well done mate, having seen you on here over many years, it’s clear and obvious how committed and professional you are to our job. You’ve done your duty, and now you can sit back and relax, well deserved. Thank you for your service to the communities of Surrey and beyond. 

Steve. 

[Firestorm]

I pop out for a year or 2 and every bugger goes and retires! 

Many congratulations to you old buddy, you did more than your fair share and I always enjoyed the wisdom of your posts over the years. 

Soon the fire service becomes a distant memory. Enjoy your next chapter. 

[Becile]

Update, As most of us ex service feckers, seem to fall into loads of stuff to while away the hours.

So apart from the obligatory new sports car, and trips abroad every month (those who know me will know that's no change!)

I provide logistical support to a local company (mostly corporate /film /TV work )

I role play (incident command) for a well known company)

I contract for a company writing/re writing policy/proceedure (local resilience forum)

Contract to a company providing extinguisher training to local care homes and industry.

Oh ...in discussion to provide ad hoc occasional project support work for my old frs.

Retirement my A##e- but all on my terms..love it.

[Messyshaw]

I recognise that lifestyle (Great innit? 👍)

After life in the LFB I worked for myself for two years doing fire consultancy for 4 NHS Trusts and others

After 2 very lucrative years, I got bored of the isolation of being a one man band and accepted a job offer in Whitehall 

12 years on and I have recently retired (again) on a small civil service pension.

I now work on a zero hours contract for a friend who rents news gathering video equipment and vans to international news organisations. 

I don't get much work, but am happy playfighting (& losing) with my 15m.old grandson and being surrounded by yummy mummies when taking him to his playgroup 🙄

@BecileI am intrigued re your project work discussions as I am in a similar position with my former HMG employers  but struggling to reconcile pension issues.

How are you dealing with that? PM me if you wish 

 

[Becile]

Hi @MessyshawI'm guessing we're slightly different in terms of pension, as I retired far short of 30 yrs service (had a big financial buffer from monies left to me after parents death) which made the financial decision to leave the service and retire early easier, even after paying off mortgage/cars etc-so I still have a fair gap in terms of pension without any penalty (haven't looked too deeply)

For your situation Couldn't you just opt out of the scheme, or beaurocracy getting in the way.

[Messyshaw]

@BecileThe issue is that if I am employed by the civil service - even on a part time contract - my civil pension is frozen if my new salary + my pension = more than I was on when I retired. (Aka pension abatement)

This applies even if my new role is substantially different to my last

I thought this was the same for the UKFRS - in that abatement applied to all county council jobs? 🤔

 

[Becile]

Mine is not more than when I retired. Your buggered,  you'll heed to drink cheaper champagne. 

In the case of the frs work effectively becomes a peice of work for every project, so effectively you are just a contractor, rather than a direct employee (that's how I had it explained)l.e. contract value per project payed at timely intervals, if project  changes for any reason, beyond reasonable, then contract value changes, but we'll see.

[Becile]

Update,

After gradually feeling I needed to feed my brain a bit more, I am returning to my previous FRS as a health and safety advisor, with an ops focus and capital projects/ new equipment etc.

[Messyshaw]

Good for you Becile. Congratulations on your appointment 

I was never going to buy a greenhouse or take up golf and saw it as a career end, not retirement . So I was always going to carry on working

I am not sure I could have gone back to my old FRS employer though 🙄

I hope the role doesn't kick in though 🤞

Almost 14 years into 'retirement' I don't regret a thing so I wish you well 👍

[Becile]

@MessyshawSame here Mate   need to feed the brain, what makes it easier to return is quite a few of the "personalities" (polite term ) that helped my original decision to leave have had some karma dealt , and no longer work there.😉 First day in today thoroughly enjoyed it - spoke to a few old faces - who seemed pleased to see me (or they are good actors...lol) Nice small team with a can do attitude.

[Steve]

Good for you, does it feel odd being back, I had a couple of offers early on to go back to HQ for some projects, but the terms (umbrella company instead do working as a supplier as I did with the NILO stuff... just how complicated can your get) were not what I could accept.  But I quickly realised it was never for me anyway I'm afraid. Even my company getting a short contract with Babcock providing FS and high rise training for station based staff wasn't an experience I want to repeat.

The NILO stuff which lasted until mid 2022, effectively 'owned' by LFB but delivered down at FSC wasn't too bad. But now, I am fully immersed in the private sector, carrying out some typical (FRA) fire safety work from time to time, but the training and consultancy work is really keeping me busy. A little too busy at the moment with the arrival of the new Building Safety Act, but the money for a single consultant is eye-watering, so I'll take it for now and slow down a bit come Spring. 

[Becile]

At the moment it feels good, The team are great h&s professionals, but ive got the edge with the ops side so lots of familiar subjects and faces and the two capitol rebuild project i'll lead on have about a £6 million value.

It"s nice to be stretching my brain again !!

And I enjoy being busy..sounds strange I know, oh and tommorow I might work from home...its a brave new world.