Halcrow Trust Distribution

The Halcrow Trust was set up on 5th November 1990 following the dissolution of Sir William Halcrow and Partners Ltd and the establishment of The Halcrow Holdings Ltd (HHL) with the intention to:

(i)           encourage officers and employees of HHL and its subsidiaries to acquire shares in the Company and thereby develop an identity of purpose with the company through the establishment and operation of an employees' share scheme; and

(ii)         provide benefits to such officers and employees and their dependants.

The full rules of the Halcrow Trust are here. At the time of the acquisition of HHL by CH2M Hill (Europe), the Halcrow Trust held 73.88% of the Halcrow shares and the Trustees are responsible for disposing of the assets generated from the sale of HHL in accordance with the Trust Deed. The Trustees have determined a portion of this wealth will be distributed to all employees who were on the payroll at 31st October 2011, with a minimum of twelve months service at that date; and employees who left Halcrow to go directly into retirement in the period between 5th November 1990 and 31 October 2011. The designated beneficiaries have been informed and, assuming the beneficiaries accept the distribution conditions, they will receive their specified payment.

This settlement excludes payments to Halcrow Pension Scheme members who worked with Halcrow during the qualifying period and subsequently left to join another firm and it would appear to exclude payments to dependants of deceased qualifying employees.

If you have been informed of a payout – great – but beware you may have to pay employees' National Insurance Contributions ('NICs') and tax on the redemption you receive: see the Halcrow Trust Q&A dated 19 Mar 2012. We recommend that you seek advice on your tax payment from your accountant e.g. current employees should be able to offset any tax payment by contributing an equivalent amount to a Self Invested Personal Pension or similar.