To follow up on my own post, it does indeed now count against your lifetime tax free allowance. So if you have a BBC pension and also a SIPP or other pension, it is worth reading up on the rules, as you will be affected.

Former BBC Radio 2 newsreader and presenter Colin Berry has died at the age of 79.

Colin Derrick Berry (29 January 1946 – 16 April 2025) was a fixture on Radio 2 from the early '70s through to the early '90s, often hosting early morning and late-night shows, including Night Ride and You and the Night and the Music.

Colin's career in broadcasting started with him performing 'administrative duties' at both Granada and Westward Television. Eventually, in 1965, he moved to doing similar things for Radio Caroline (South) where his radio career began with him reading the news.
When the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 came into force, Colin 'came ashore' to spend time (on more administrative duties!) for the newly- opened Yorkshire Television. He was also working as a club DJ. moving on to 'record promotion' before joining BBC Radio Medway as a Saturday afternoon presenter. He spent the summer of 1971 as an announcer for HTV in Cardiff before settling in at the Radio 1 & 2 Presentation department, under Jimmy Kingsbury.
He was one of Radio 2's first overnight hosts when the station started 24-hour broadcasting in 1979, with a programme that included a "what's on" guide, and a cookery slot (which he said was "for those of listeners who get home late and feel like a snack!").
Over his many years (1973–2006) as a staff presenter, he 'stood in' for several daytime presenters on Radio 2, including Terry Wogan, Jimmy Young and David Hamilton, and during this lengthy period, Colin also presented programmes for BFBS, as well as Inflight Productions.
Colin made appearances on several TV shows, including Top of The Pops, Blankety Blank and Going Live. He was also familiar to Eurovision viewers, presenting the UK jury's votes to the Eurovision Song Contest between 1978 and 2002.
After 'going freelance' in 2006, he continued reading the news on Radio 2 until September 2012, when changes to the station meant that the majority of Radio 2 news summaries were being read by journalists. His last bulletin on Radio 2 was at 3am on 8 September 2012.

Away from Broadcasting House, having presented late night Saturdays on BBC Three Counties Radio from 2004, during 2009 and 2010 Colin also presented The Saturday Club, a weekly BBC Local Radio show broadcast across the Eastern Counties, playing music from the 1960s and 1970s.  
Until 2019, he presented an occasional series for BBC Three Counties Radio - A Little Light Music - along with other music shows on or around bank holidays. He was also heard periodically on The Vintage Top 40 Show, broadcast on various BBC local stations at 5pm on Sundays.
His final broadcast was covering for Richard Spendlove on his long-running music and phone-in show for BBC Local Radio, on 29 April 2017.

Paying tribute, Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2, said: "All of us at Radio 2 were saddened to hear of the passing of Colin Berry, who was part of our on-air family for many years. We send our condolences to his family and friends."

Ex-BBCWM producer Nick Booth has died aged 59 after a fall.
His sister Jaki has messaged: Yesterday we said goodbye to my kind, supportive, creative and self-proclaimed genius little brother Nick.
He had the most horrible fall, and never managed to pull through. He was peaceful and surrounded by family until the end.
We know many of you will want to show your respect and love for Nick. As a family, we're in the process of organising celebrations of his life and will share more details of these later.
Because he touched so many lives, we have already been overwhelmed with messages showing love and support, which we are so grateful for, but ask for your patience in our responses.
He made me feel happy. I will always remember his generous soul and cannot begin to process how much I will miss him.

Indeed.

Most of it was obituaries, none of whom I've ever heard of anyway!

I started to take my BBC pension a few years ago. I took no tax free cash. At commencement, I received a notification of what % of my lifetime allowance this had used up. So far, so good.

In my most recent P60 letter however, I've now been told my pension also counts towards the total Lump Sum Allowance I can take, which is the total amount of tax free cash I can take from my various DB/DC schemes. In fact, it takes up a fair chunk of it.

I queried this with the pension department as I thought it must be a mistake, since I didn't take any tax free cash, but they said no, taking a final salary pension in this way does indeed now use up your tax fee allowance, even if no tax free cash was taken. Apparently the rules changed last year?  The guy I spoke to said quite a few people had callled to query this.

Has anyone else experienced this? Or better still, can you explain it?!

Just received the posted Prospero.  Fat lot of good writing a letter.  In fact it was so devoid of relevant content I consigned it to recycling within minutes. In its present form the paper edition could end right now and rather than pay for it I wouldn’t miss it.

This one seems to have missed ...

Here are the details of the funeral arrangements for Production Operative Supervisor Nick Miles.
Nick was a long standing, well-loved member of the Scenic Design Department at TVC, Elstree, and on various locations.
Taken too early. RIP Nick

Funeral Service - Monday 31st March 2025 at 12:40 pm
at South-West Middlesex Crematorium, Hounslow Road, Hanworth, Feltham, Middlesex.  TW13 5JH

The BBC Pension Online is now working

Latest email suggests more than maintenance or maybe bugged upgrade!

Quote:

It's just brilliant e-mail sent out encouraging people to log in and check their p60 details, pension increases etc only to find on the very same day a scheduled maintainance is taking place.Yeah right...that website crashed and no mistake. You couldn't make it up!