2000 News

Exam successes - December 2000
December 2000
December started with a bang in the Amersham and Leeds offices where Andrew Twells and John Harrison completed the examinations to become Fellows of the Institute of Actuaries. Andrew (who complete...

Review of Minimum Funding Requirement
December 2000
Danny Wilding introduces Barnett Waddingham's position in the great MFR debate. The deadline for responses on the new MFR proposals to the DSS is the end of January 2001. Here is a preview of Barne...

Pension scheme disclosure - a summary
December 2000
Mark Howard gives a brief summary of the key points about disclosure requirements for pension scheme trustees. Our experiences with our clients over the last 3 years since the Pensions Act 1995 cam...

Pensions on divorce - the not so clean break for pension schemes
December 2000
Rachel Evans looks at the administration difficulties for UK occupational pension schemes caused by the new legislation coming into force at the beginning of December 2000. The pension sharing prov...

Second State Pension and Contracting-Out from April 2002
November 2000
Andrew Twells looks at the Government's new Second State Pension and the proposed changes to the terms for contracting-out in the UK. From April 2002, changes will be made to both the additional st...

Transfers to Personal Pensions - New GN11 regulations from 6 April 2001
November 2000
Caroline Harrington updates her October 2000 website article on the impending Inland Revenue change to transfer limits. Last month you may have read my comments on the draft regulations issued by t...

Dubai
November 2000
Huw Wynne-Griffith reports on recent work and some wonderful hospitality in Dubai. As part of the silver anniversary celebrations of Alliance Insurance, the biggest domestic life insurer in the Uni...

Barnett Waddingham Cocktail Party 2000
November 2000
Adrian Waddingham reports on this annual social event. This year's BW cocktail party continued the tradition of interesting venues, this time testing the guests' conversational skills in the apprec...

Barnett Waddingham Netball Club
November 2000
The new Barnett Waddingham-sponsored Netball Club, newly entered into the sixth division of the the Gloucestershire Netball League, are proving to be pace-setters with a strong early-season showing...

BW cricket - London romp home
October 2000
A solid victory for Barnett Waddingham's London office was achieved in their annual cricketing encounter between the town and country. Michael Schumacher-style claims by BW's Amersham office that t...

AXA Equity & Lax transfer to AXA Sun Life
October 2000
Rajeev Shah in Barnett Waddingham's Life insurance consultancy team in the London office looks at AXA's proposal to transfer all of the business written by AXA Equity & Law to AXA Sun Life. This pr...

Carry Forward on Personal Pensions
October 2000
Julia Bassett looks at the UK Government's decision to abolish the carry forward provision on tax allowances for contributions to Personal Pension policies. From 6 April 2001 the Government will no...

Limits on pension scheme transfers
October 2000
Caroline Harrington looks at the recently issued draft regulations covering transfers between occupational schemes and personal pension plans which could limit transfer options. This article first ...

Pensions - the worst and best since 1971
October 2000
Adrian Waddingham looks back over the worst and best in pensions since 1971. I first met pensions schemes in 1971, fresh out of university. A busy year, 1971, but the most abiding thought looking b...

Review of the Minimum Funding Requirement
September 2000
Danny Wilding looks at the possible short and long-term future of the Minimum Funding Requirement test on funding for UK occupational defined benefit schemes following the publication by the DSS of...

New requirements for SSASs
September 2000
Richard Millson looks at the latest PSO Update involving Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSASs) . The Pension Schemes Office have announced new requirements for SSASs in an Update dated 29 August ...

Barnett Waddingham in Turkey
September 2000
Pete McGurk, a partner in our Life insurance consultancy team describes Barnett Waddingham's recent work helping Turkey's state benefits reform. Turkey is a country in transition. Following the exa...

Actuarial Professionalism in Malaysia
September 2000
Huw Wynne-Griffith visited Malaysia in July 2000, and gave a half-day course on professionalism to the members of the Malaysian Actuarial Society. The course was based on case studies which the thi...

Wilding Wedding
August 2000
Danny Wilding married Catherine Narracott, a PR consultant, on 15 July 2000 at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church in Frimley, Surrey with the reception at nearby Foxhills Country Club. Danny and Cathe...

Investment Issues
August 2000
Equities After a shaky April, UK equities delivered a return of 5% over the quarter, with the FTSE100 index finishing above 5,100 as shown in the table below. This was the ninth consecutive quarter...

Setting up a SSAS
August 2000
You may think that this would be a complicated process, but this need not be the case. Barnett Waddingham can provide all of the documentation required very quickly, and as long as all the proposed...

Summer activities 2000
August 2000
Cheltenham Summer Party The Cheltenham office held their annual summer party at Carole Ward's parents' farm in Winchcombe just outside Cheltenham. There was a bouncy castle for the little ones, foo...

Pop-tastic!
August 2000
Adrian Waddingham went along to a Trustees' meeting recently and was congratulated by one of the Trustees on a Barnett Waddingham employee winning the pop quiz on the Ken Bruce morning show (Radio ...

Barnett Waddingham 6-a-side football
August 2000
Jon Bridger reports. Barnett Waddingham held its annual 6-a-side football competition on Friday 4 August. In a "Champions League"-style format all seven teams played each other with the top four go...

London stages Euro 2000
July 2000
Adam Walker reports on a tournament in which football was the winner. Disappointment over England's failed bid to stage the 2006 World Cup was less in evidence in Barnett Waddingham's London office...

Historic Trustee Training
July 2000
Mark Da Silva comments on the importance of preparation for the duties that were faced by UK occupational pension scheme trustees in 2000-2001. He also gives details of Barnett Waddingham's trainin...

Historic SSAS and SIPP Seminars
July 2000
Richard Millson introduced the 2000 series of seminars on Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSASs) and Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs). By 2000, the Autumn series of SSAS Seminars had become...

Exam successes for Barnett Waddingham staff - June/July 2000
July 2000
The UK pensions world's summer season of celebrations spanned a period of three weeks this year, with no less than four sets of exam results being announced between 16 June and 6 July 2000. Barnett...

Section 67 of the UK Pensions Act 1995
July 2000
Danny Wilding tells the story so far: how one part of the UK Pensions Act has caused a major headache for UK pension scheme actuaries. Background Section 67 of the UK Pensions Act 1995 requires the...

Concurrent membership of UK occupational and stakeholder pension schemes
July 2000
Adrian Waddingham reports on the recent announcement that concurrent membership of UK occupational and stakeholder pension schemes will be allowed from April 2001. The UK Inland Revenue and Departm...

Occupational Pensions for Part-timers
June 2000
Various court judgements and pending legislation will affect the way occupational pension schemes must treat part-time employees in the future. Background Historically, many employers have not allo...

Stakeholder Pensions - Summary for Employers
June 2000
1. An introduction to stakeholder schemes Stakeholder schemes are a new type of defined contribution pension arrangement introduced by the Welfare Reform & Pensions Act 1999. Stakeholder schemes ar...

Stakeholder Pensions - Detailed Summary
June 2000
Introduction "The Stakeholder Pension Schemes Regulations 2000" were laid before Parliament on 25 May 2000. Falling under the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999, these regulations describe the es...

New Associates of the firm 2000
June 2000
On 1 June 2000, six long-serving Barnett Waddingham employees from a variety of backgrounds were made Associates of the firm. The Amersham office has two new associates in the pensions administrati...

IACA Conference
June 2000
At the beginning of June Adrian Waddingham and Danny Wilding represented Barnett Waddingham at the International Association of Consulting Actuaries (IACA) biennial conference. The conference was b...

Pensions Sharing on Divorce
May 2000
When a couple get divorced, the main two assets they hold between them are often a house and pension(s). The Courts have to share the assets between the couple, and this has inevitably lead in the ...

Defined Contribution Schemes - changes in pension indexation
May 2000
Introduction The Child Support Pensions & Social Security Act 2000 will allow greater use of investment-linked annuities for members of defined contribution pension schemes. The Bill has been passe...

Winning the Generation Game
May 2000
Improving Opportunities for People Aged 50 to 65 in Work and Community Activity by the Performance and Innovation Unit of the Cabinet Office Introduction According to government figures some 2.8m p...

An actuarys marathon day at the races
May 2000
Well I did it. On the Sunday before Easter 2000 I ran the London Marathon. It took 4 hrs and 11 minutes and the time went in a flash. The day had started lazily. Blue sky, warm sun and no reaction ...

Stakeholder Pensions - Summary of The Draft Regulations
April 2000
1. Scheme Governance Schemes can be set up as trust-based schemes or as contract-based schemes with an authorised scheme manager; All schemes must provide a default investment option, for members w...

The Minimum Funding Requirement and Vodafone
April 2000
For further information, please contact Nick Salter at the Amersham office . There has been some press comment on this subject recently. Background to the issue As a direct result of Vodafone buyin...

Barnett Waddingham Website Activity
April 2000
We launched our website ( www.barnett-waddingham.co.uk ) in June 1999 with the aim of providing timely and interesting articles of benefit to our clients through this ever expanding medium. We have...

Socially Responsible Investment an an occupational pension scheme's statement of investment principles
March 2000
Statement of Investment Principles Background Every pension scheme is required to have a Statement of Investment Principles (SIP) setting out the approach the trustee take to the investment of the ...

Data Protection Act 1998 and UK Pension Schemes
March 2000
The Data Protection Act 1998 extends many of the requirements of the original 1984 Act which governed the disclosure, use and security of data stored on computer, and the rights of the individuals ...

SIAS Wine Tasting
March 2000
Danny is now the chair of the SIAS social sub-committee and on Tuesday 1 February the first SIAS social event of the new millennium took place at Staple Inn. About 50 people attended including a de...

BW Barmy Army on Tour
February 2000
It was the dream trip to end all dream trips. Christmas in Durban, new year in Cape Town, two Test matches, incredibly cheap booze and food, fantastic weather - what more could we ask for? Well, an...

DSS Consultation: Contracting out of the State Second Pension
February 2000
For further information, please contact Louise Witts at the Leeds office . Introduction On 29 November 1999 the DSS issued a consultation paper setting out the Government's proposals for the struct...

Equalisation of GMPs
February 2000
Pensions Ombudsman's Determination - Equalisation Of GMPs Concern For Contracted-Out Final Salary Schemes For further information, please contact Nilesh Dodhia at the Amersham office . Determinatio...

FRED 20 : Accounting For Retirement Benefits
January 2000
Jon Bridger presents Barnett Waddingham's summary and comments on Financial Reporting Exposure Draft (FRED) 20 which sets out proposals for the treatment of pensions and other forms of retirement b...

Barnett Waddingham Christmas Party 1999
January 2000
Barnett Waddingham goes back to Chelsea For the second time in three years, the BW Christmas party was held at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea FC. Around 150 staff from all the offices converg...