Ann Ainsworth from PCS has been offering older members popular pre-retirement workshops full of practical advice to help with the transition from work to retirement.

Ann is the PCS north-west regional learning organiser, a project worker employed by PCS and funded by the Union Learning Fund. Her main remit is to work with ULRs to provide some core training (e.g. how to measure outcomes) and a huge variety of other development (e.g. online learning, assertiveness, Value my Skills and English, digital and employability skills).  Ann also has a specialism in pensions and pre-retirement, health & wellbeing and working with ARMS – the Associate and Retired Members group. 

Through working with ARMS ULRs, Ann discovered that many of the retired members had been unsatisfied with the pre-retirement support that they had been given and felt that it had not supported them in making the transition from work to retirement.  As a result of this, PCS developed a new pre-retirement course which incorporated many of the recommendations of these members.

The two-day pre-retirement course which now runs in the PCS offices is free of charge for members and their partners with a minimum of 15 attendees. It is a popular workshop due to the age profile of PCS members and it is offered to anyone considering retirement (most attendees have fewer than 5 years left before retiring).

Members self-identify for the workshops rather than being targeted. Opportunities are promoted by ULRs and advertised through email and on Eventbrite to minimise pre-course paperwork.  ULRs follow Ann’s Eventbrite page so that they get automatic updates whenever there is a new course listed.

The programme includes practical information on pensions, benefits, finance and legal considerations alongside sessions on managing change, valuing and developing skills, keeping healthy and staying in contact through ARMS. There is also a one-day version of the course that can be delivered in the workplace, which only covers the financial aspects.

To provide the financial information and one-to-one support that was so needed, Ann got in touch with True Bearings, a Chartered Financial Planning company. To make sure that these sessions had integrity and quality, Ann observed them delivering a session to other organisations before engaging the company. She also ensured that they would not hard sell their services or products during the sessions.

Ann recommends talking to local financial advice companies and also local learning providers as many of them will offer free or reduced cost information sessions to members.

Ann says,

There are significant gaps in financial literacy across the whole country which means that individuals find it very difficult to calculate how much money they will need in retirement to maintain various standards of living.”

This workshop, alongside our understanding pensions course, can help people prepare for this, and it’s been really helpful to have input from retired reps to make sure the programme has the right content and structure to be useful.”

Change in the workplace affects everyone and you may need support in managing that change. Unionlearns “Smart choices: preparing for the third age” publication is full of ideas and support.