SPC News Summary for November 2003

SPC News Summary for December 2003

SPC has a high degree of concern over the Governments proposals on changes to the current statutory priority order on winding up. The concern springs partly from practical implications of the proposals (schemes might not have the records of deferred members necessary to implement the proposals) partly because they strike the wrong balance between giving members greater security and limiting the impact of there being insufficient funds to pay accrued benefits in full.

The effect of the complicated treatment of increases in pensions, caused by dividing them into three priority classes, appears to be to further increase the cliff edge between those who have just retired and those who are about to retire.

The SPC Money Purchase Forum had its most recent meeting on November 20^th. It is now approximately one year since the start of the Forum and it is proving to be a useful setting in which SPC members can discuss informally issues related to money purchase schemes.

SPC will be holding an evening meeting in Manchester on December 10^th. The speaker will be Robin Ellison (Head of Strategic Development, Pensions, Pinsents). The subject will be "Pension Schemes : a Grumpy Old Man's View".

SPC held a meeting for its members in Yorkshire on November 26^th. The subject was "Pension Scheme Investment: A shareholder's perspective". The speakers were Cliff Speed and Jon Palin of Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow.