2004 News

Pensions Tax Simplification - Impact for Senior Executives
December 2004
Summary What are the key issues? The 2004 Finance Act set out that the Government is to replace all existing benefit limits on tax approved pensions with a single set of allowances. These will be: a l...

Historic Seminars for Small Schemes
December 2004
hosted a series of seminars on the subject of small schemes, which include SSA , SIPP and FURBS . These seminars are designed to give both our clients and their professional advisers informative guida...

IFRS2/FRS20 - Accounting For Share-Based Payments
November 2004
Just when you thought you had got to grips with FRS17, along comes IFRS2 and FRS20. IFRS2 and FRS20 are new accounting standards which require a value to be placed on share-based payments and shown as...

The Increasing Importance of Mortality and Morbidity Risks
November 2004
Background The reduction in long term interest rates over the last decade, combined with unexpected and rapid recent increases in longevity, has meant that the relative significance of mortality risks...

New Chairman of the International Association of Consulting Actuaries
November 2004
Adrian Waddingham elected Chairman of the International Association of Consulting Actuaries Barnett Waddingham LLP partner Adrian Waddingham has been elected Chairman of the International Association ...

DWP Survey of Myners Compliance
October 2004
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently published the findings of its quantitative research into the take-up of the Myners Principles by pension scheme trustees. This newsletter discusses ...

Historic Current Pensions Issues Seminars
October 2004
Barnett Waddingham LLP was pleased to announce the extension of its 2004/5 current pensions issues seminar programme. 2004 was the fifth year Barnett Waddingham had run a series of free seminars on cu...

Income Drawdown and Simplification
October 2004
Following two prolonged consultation periods and an assessment by the National Audit Office as to the validity of some of the Treasury's assumptions, Pensions Simplification finally arrived in the for...

Pensions Challenges and Choices
October 2004
The First Report of the Pensions Commission - October 2004 On 12 October the Pensions Commission, chaired by Adair Turner, published its first report on its analysis of the UK pensions and retirement ...

Amersham office retain cricket trophy in style
September 2004
Vidhya Sivagurunathan reports back from the annual Barnett Waddingham Amersham vs London cricket match. Escaping the heat of last year's match with conditions considerably milder, this year's annual A...

The future looks bright for SIPPs
September 2004
Pauline Berry from our Liverpool office looks at the future of SIPPs. As regular readers of this site will know, SIPPs are now into their fifteenth year. Unlike many teenagers, these pension arrangeme...

Exam Success - Summer 2004
July 2004
A report on recent achievements by Barnett Waddingham LLP staff in professional examinations. This summer's professional examination results provided numerous reasons for celebration. There were two q...

New Chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries
June 2004
Adrian Waddingham elected Chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries Barnett Waddingham LLP partner Adrian Waddingham has taken office as Chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries (...

New Partners and Associate 2004
June 2004
The Partners of Barnett Waddingham LLP are pleased to announce the following promotions with effect from 1 June 2004. New Partners Paul Latimer graduated from Manchester University in 1986 with a Phys...

Barnett Waddingham becomes an LLP
June 2004
On 1 June 2004, Barnett Waddingham converted to a limited liability partnership, Barnett Waddingham LLP. The use of the LLP as a vehicle has quickly embraced leading firms of accountants and, increasi...

FURBS and the 2006 Tax Simplification Proposals
June 2004
Further comment on the effect of the 2006 pension scheme tax simplification proposals as they will apply FURBS. The Finance Bill 2004, currently making its way through Parliament, includes preliminary...

Historic Current Pensions Issues Seminars
June 2004
Since 2002, Barnett Waddingham has been running a series of free seminars on current pension topics for its clients and friends. Find below the list of topics which were covered in our 2004/5 seminar ...

Barnett Waddingham LLP Cocktail Party 2004
June 2004
After a break in 2003, Barnett Waddingham LLP's annual cocktail party returned to the fray in 2004 with an evening at the British Library. On a hot and sunny evening, it was fortunate that the west-fa...

Accounting for Pension Costs under FRS17 - 2003 Survey
April 2004
Barnett Waddingham's report on the financial assumptions used by the FTSE100 companies under FRS17. Introduction This is our third annual survey of the assumptions adopted by FTSE100 companies for det...

2004 Solvency Levels - FRS17/Funding
April 2004
Chris Chadwick, a partner in the Cheltenham office, looks at the recent history of local government pension scheme FRS17 and funding solvency levels. Readers of our November issue will recall that Bar...

Pension Schemes - Managing the Risks
April 2004
Any discussion about pension scheme design can quickly become polarized with the focus on the two extreme ends of the risk spectrum - defined benefit ("DB") and defined contribution ("DC"). In simple ...

Socially Responsible Investment
April 2004
Introduction The topic of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) has become a significant consideration for the trustees of many occupational pension schemes when setting their investment strategy. Thi...

Budget 2004 Pension Taxation Simplification
March 2004
Following the National Audit Office review in to the Government's proposals for pension taxation simplification, the Government has announced in the Budget that it will proceed with the simplification...

Understanding Transfer Value Payments
March 2004
What is Best for the Employer? Transfer values are paid from a scheme when a member chooses to transfer their accrued pension rights to another pension arrangement. In an underfunded scheme, the trust...

Issues for Employers Seminars
March 2004
Our next evening seminar considers the issues currently facing occupational pension schemes from the perspective of the employer. For obvious reasons, employers are showing a much greater interest in ...

Historic SIPP Tax Simplification Implications Seminars
March 2004
Following on from our SSAS, SIPP and FURBS seminars, we received a large amount of interest on SIPP specific issues from our clients and contacts. We therefore held further Seminars in each of our off...

Returns to Form - Allocating Investment Returns for Charities
March 2004
Chris Watts and Glenda Ashison explore the difficulties faced by charities when allocating the investment returns of permanent endowments. This article first appeared in the February edition of Charit...

Simplicity, Security and Choice - The Pensions Bill 2004
February 2004
On 12 February 2004 the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Andrew Smith, published the Pensions Bill, to be known as the Pensions Act 2004, designed to protect members of defined benefit pensio...

Funded Unapproved Retirement Benefit Schemes
February 2004
Adrian Waddingham reviews the significant changes being proposed by the Government to the tax treatment of FURBS. An update to this article was issued in June 2004 entitled " FURBS and the 2006 Tax Si...

Pension Accounting Standards
February 2004
Nigel Hacking summarises the proposals put forward by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in respect of their review of the international accounting standard (IAS19). Background The In...

Barnett Waddingham Duo Win Institute of Actuaries Prize
February 2004
Barnett Waddingham are proud to announce that the Institute of Actuaries' Council has awarded a CMI working party on which Tony Leandro and Rajeev Shah of our London office were part, a prize for thei...

Identifying and Dealing with Pension Scheme Deficits
January 2004
Stop Press - FRS17 Update Many companies are now putting together their FRS17 numbers for 31 December year ends and finding that, despite much better (and positive!) equity returns in 2003, the positi...

Exam Success - Winter 2003
January 2004
A report on recent achievements by Barnett Waddingham staff in the pensions administration examinations. The results of this autumn's pensions administration exams provided several reasons for celebra...

Historic SSAS, SIPPs and FURBS Seminar
January 2004
For many years, Barnett Waddingham's small schemes team have run seminars, concentrating specifically on SSAS, SIPPs and FURBS. The main talking point of 2003 for these schemes has been the Inland Rev...