Halcrow Trust

The trustees of the Halcrow Trust are now considering what to do with the Trust's share of the proceeds of the sale of Halcrow to CH2M Hill.

According to the Trust Deed, the beneficiaries of the Trust are:

(i) the officers and employees and retired officers and employees of the Appointor and/or its Subsidiaries and the spouses widows widowers children whether legitimate or illegitimate and stepchildren under the age of eighteen and dependants of such officers and employees and retired officers and employees save that no person may be included in this definition of beneficiary who would if included prevent the application of sections 13, 28, 72, 75 and 86 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 and section 149 of the Capital Gains Tax Act 1979 to these trusts save that such persons may be included in this definition insofar as the provisions of sections 13(4) and 28(6) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 and section 149(6) of the Capital Gains Tax Act 1979 permit

(ii) The Benevolent Fund of the Institution of Civil Engineers and/or any other charity or charities nominated by the Trustees

The full Halcrow Trust Deed is available here.

The notice on the Halcrow website and the associated forms imply a strict definition of "retired", namely that retirees have undertaken no other work after leaving Halcrow. In reality, there is a significant number of ex-Halcrow staff who, after many years contributing towards Halcrow's then prosperity, have undertaken other work either to keep themselves technically proficient and / or to supplement their Halcrow pension. It is considered that such people should also be entitled to a share of the Trust's money.

Readers are invited to join the forum and discuss the best way of distributing the Halcrow Trust funds within the constraints of the Trust Deed.