HALCROW PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION 

 Newsletter No 5 : April 2013

You have been sent this newsletter because you may be a member of the Halcrow Pension Scheme. If you are not a member then please use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email to remove your name from the mailing list or email the webmaster@halcrowpensioners dot org dot uk to remove your name.

Contents (click on the blue headings for more details)

The 2011 Halcrow Group Accounts

The final 2011 accounts for Halcrow Group became available for public access on 9th April 2013 having been received by Companies House on 27th March. The accounts show that Halcrow Group made a loss of £71.3M in 2011 compared with a profit of £16.6M in 2011. Turnover declined from £330.5 million in 2010 to £238.2 million in 2011. Much of this reduction occurred in the Middle East and Africa region where turnover decreased from £80.8 million in 2010 to £16.2 million in 2011: A reduction of 80 per cent. Click on the heading to see more details of the information in the accounts. The net pension liability increases from £65,213k in the 2010 accounts to to £179,700k in the 2011 accounts.

The Triennial Pension Review

The triennial pension review for the Halcrow Pension Scheme, due in 2011, should have been completed and the report issued latest 31st March 2013 together with an updated funding plan agreed with the company. No information has been received from the HPS trustees regarding this and the HPA Chairman has written to the Chairman of the HPS trustees to enquire about the status.

The 2013 HPA Annual General Meeting

HPA has been functioning for a year and, in accordance with HPA's constitution, an Annual General Meeting should take place. The AGM will be conducted on-line for one week commencing on Monday 22nd April in a sub-forum of the HPA forum to which only paid-up members of HPA will be given access. Newsletter recipients are encouraged to attend the AGM and contribute to shaping the future for HPA. This will require (i) payment of an HPA membership subscription (if not already paid) and registration for the HPA forum. Members do not need to attend the forum for the whole week but can visit from time to time to contribute to discussions and take part in any voting.

As individuals we have limited voice, but collectively we stand a better chance of being heard and influencing future changes. In addition to forming a platform for talking to past colleagues, HPA provides, for the first time, a collective body to represent member's interests to the trustees. We need members, both to be able to demonstrate the numbers of people concerned about the welfare of the Halcrow Pension Scheme and also to raise a fund to meet legal or other costs. As a minimum please make sure you are on our mailing list.

We are relying on personal networks to spread the news of our existence. We remind all the recipients of this newsletter to spread the word by forwarding this email to anyone else whom you think may be a member (pensioner, deferred or contributing) of the Halcrow Pension Scheme. It is better that they receive multiple copies of this email than remain unaware of the HPA. We would also request people to update their details in our newsletter database (particularly those people for which we only have a Halcrow email address which are now being phased out). If you received this email directly then please use the link at the bottom of the email to access your details.

Thank you from the HPA committee.