‘ve just checked ONS. Its site was updated faster than usual, as early as 9:30AM this morning, at least for this dataset.

The site updated at ONS:

Number of deaths for week 11:

Notice how much that grew between 2022 and 2023.

2019 was a lot better too. 2019 data for March/April:

So to summarise

2019: 10,567 deaths
2022: 10,928 deaths
2023: 12,133 deaths

They tell us the pandemic is a thing of the past. The data does not support this assertion.

Sounds familiar? Yes, Standard Life (2011-2016). Seems like a pattern…

TPR confirms end to ‘serious’ admin issues at Now Pensions

TPR forces Now Pensions to overhaul admin system after £18m failing

NOW:Pensions failed to collect £18m of contributions

Now Pensions fined for ‘long-running issues’

Summary: The above is important because of the timing. After 5+ years of pension fraud at Sirius ‘Open Source’ the company enrolled staff without paperwork/signatures and barely with any consent (in late 2016); to make matters worse, a few years ago it upped staff contribution levels without increasing its own, in effect forcing staff to send even more money (one’s own money, not the company’s) into this dubious pot with uncertain future.

They tried blaming it on outsourcing (their own)

Summary: NOW: Pensions, which is apathetic towards crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ (because it gets paid to play along), has one heck of a history when it comes to managing data; 2 years ago its customers’ data (some of it highly sensitive) was copied and posted online for all to download, at least temporarily, after a severe breach

In their own words (latest statement from Companies House):

Summary: The crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ are under investigation, but NOW: Pensions does not seem to care. On the phone, the manager at this pension firm said he’d send assurance letters. In his E-mail he said the same. Two of his workers had said the same for 2 months prior. They all lied. Lying is the norm there. Would you trust a pension provider such as this? If this is the norm in this sector (financial/pension ‘industry’), there’s big trouble ahead.

Video download link | md5sum cfff2fb2cceefc626740e3c7f0427891
3 Months Now…
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0

Summary: The crimes of Sirius ‘Open Source’ are being passively tolerated by those who knowingly or unknowingly facilitated them; today we focus again on NOW: Pensions, which is based here in Manchester

THE corrupt company that I left in December is becoming one heck of a hot mess. The pension providers, however, aren’t taking it seriously enough and do not respond fast enough. The video above explains the latest from NOW: Pensions, a company based here in Manchester. Strangely enough neither myself nor my wife (who also left the company in December) can remember ever signing up with this pension provider. No paperwork, no signature, no plan specified. What sort of pension gets offered without even consent being expressed? The whole thing seems rather dodgy. Last night my wife attempted to access the portal, only to discover that they had changed it. She could not get in until she changed her password in a password recovery process. Even then, in the new portal, it wasn’t clear what was signed for (nothing) and how it started. So a company that committed pension fraud for at least 5 years just enrolled staff without giving even the most basic details. One lingering suspicion is that one type of pension fraud was substituted with another in 2016, mayube a case of kickbacks, e.g. the CEO passing workers’ money to an old friend using some scheme managed by a dodgy provider, a serial violator that already paid fines and isn’t providing a good service.

At the end of the day this whole thing bodes rather badly not just for companies that claim they’re “Open Source” (but gradually move away from it) but also for pension providers in the UK. They seem to be somewhat complicit in the scam and even after months of effort, with multiple victims being actively involved, there’s little or no concrete progress. the Pension Regulator isn’t enough to tackle this.

Summary: It does not seem (and certainly does not ‘feel’) safe to keep a pension with a repeat offender, managing a pension for a company that defrauded its staff; given the financial troubles of NOW: Pensions, as well as fines, maybe it’s time to abandon them as soon as possible

TO my surprise, but not to any great astonishment, NOW: Pensions has not progressed despite the issue being escalated to management (many hours spent on the phone). I spoke to the manager there (John Pattinson) more than two weeks ago and his promises/assurances were in vain. Worse yet, he barely responds to E-mail, so I’ve just sent him this message (a generic NOW: Pensions account; he hides his personal account behind that).

Complaints now pensions support wrote on 16/03/2023 17:39:
> Hi Roy,
>
> Thank you for your call today, apologies for the bad communication and
> service you have had from us regarding you concerns with your employer
> Sirius Corporation.

Hi, more than 2 weeks have passed. It’s now April.

> As discussed,.
>
> * I will arrange for a letter to be sent to you and or email with
> assurances that your pension money is safe with Now Pensions

This did not happen.

My wife received no letter.

I received no letter.

> * I will alert the team that deals with your employer that the CEO is
> wanted for embezzlement and that he effectively scammed all his
> employers previously through a pension scheme with Standard Life

Has that happened? I heard nothing.

> * they put on hold/review any financial requests from the company
> * request what due diligence they do when acquiring employers to use
> NOW Pensions

I still received no communications, no letters, nothing.

> Please feel free to add to the above list with any further assurances
> that you would like and call or email me.

I don’t see the point to be honest. It does not seem like you did anything at all, i.e. it has been the same with you since January.

Please arrange for my wife and I to collect our pensions with an “unauthorised” (heavily tax) withdrawal. I will advise colleagues accordingly.

I regret to say that John Pattinson has failed me just like the people whom he bosses. He and his colleagues keep lying to clients. Why trust these people with one’s hard-earned money? A video will come soon.

recently wrote that I had been looking at many old photos, trying to basically recall much older days because of my sister’s wedding (4 days ago).

One experience that I still remember was in 2005 (Zermatt). It cemented my decision to do Free software activism for a lifetime… if possible. I wasn’t rich, but I came to realise that all the superficial nonsense rich people dwell in does not bring true happiness. It’s more about show-off and class consciousness. Thus, the concept of “hoarding” money or “showing” money was rather pointless. I’d never be interested in it.

My stance or my position has not changed since then (18 years ago). I still do campaigning, I still share all my work/code, and I’ve worked hard to secure that for at least another decade to come.