Newsletter No. 54
HALCROW PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION
Newsletter No. 54 : July 2023
This is a newsletter of the Halcrow Pensioners Association (HPA). More details of HPA's objectives, organisation and its activities are here. You have been sent this newsletter because you are on the HPA's mailing list. Membership of HPA is open to all to all former Halcrow employees, sub-contractors, spouses and dependants who consider themselves to be part of the Halcrow "family". If you do not wish to receive the HPA newsletters then please either use the unsubscribe link at the bottom of your email or email the webmaster to remove your name from the mailing list. If you know anyone who may be interested to receive the newsletters then please forward them this newsletter using the link at the bottom of this email and encourage them to sign up for their own newsletters here.
Letter to the Trustee About PPF Underpin
Subsequent to the 2023 HPA AGM, a letter was sent to the Trustee seeking clarification about the PPF underpin (the promise that those who joined HPS2 would be better off than if they transferred to the PPF). We were recently advised that this letter will be discussed at a Trustee meeting in early August and a response can be expected soon after that meeting.
The Deprived Pensioners Association
We recently became aware of the Deprived Pensioners Association. This organisation has been established with the objective of crowdfunding a judicial review of Para 28 of Schedule 7 to the Pensions Act 2004 (which established the PPF) and stated that pensionable service prior to April 1997 shall not give entitlement to indexation. The basis for a legal challenge is that this constitutes age discrimation. Readers of this newsletter are encouraged to visit the DPA website and decide whether they want to support the DPA objectives. The latest progress report from the DPA is here and shows that the initial funding target has been reached but more money is needed.
The Capita Data Leak
Capita, who have a contract to administer the HPS2 pensions payments, suffered a cyber-intrusion in March 2023. On 25th May 2023 the Trustee mailed a notice to all HPS2 members alerting them to the incident as Capita had confirmed that data for some HPS2 members had been affected. That letter included some general advice about avoiding pensions scams and identity fraud. The HPS2 website states "Capita does not provide any services and does not hold any personal data for members of the Scheme who are not yet receiving their pension. The cyber-attack will not affect the personal data of these members."
On 18th July 2023 Capita, on behalf of the Trustee, sent a 3 page letter to HPS2 pensioner members advising what personal data may have been involved in the incident, dispensing more advice and offering a free on year membership of Experian's credit and web monitoring service. Needless to say, HPA is not happy about the onus being put on the scheme members to minimise the risk of incurring loss or fraud through no fault of their own. Many other organisations have been affected and it has been reported that a Class Action lawsuit is being prepared. There is a more detailed assessment of the incident, subsequent actions and implications here.
Trustee Announcement About Company Contributions
On 20th July the Trustee posted a notice on the HPS2 website and emailed those on its email advising "Due to an expected surplus funding position to arise following the conclusion of the triennial actuarial valuation at 31st December 2022, the Trustee has agreed with the Company to temporarily suspend employer deficit contributions to HPS2 whilst they await the results of the 31 December 2022 valuation. As surety, the Trustee has arranged for Jacobs to provide a Letter of Credit covering the deficit payment of £333,333 per month. The statutory deadline for the actuarial valuation to be completed is 31st March 2024, however the Trustee is hopeful of completing this in 2023. Once the valuation is completed, should HPS2, as expected, be in a surplus funding position on a technical provisions basis, the Letter of Credit will be rescinded and a new Schedule of Contributions agreed, with no further employer contributions being payable to HPS2".
Members will recall that in November 2022 the Trustee advised members "Jacobs has considered whether to award a discretionary increase this year in addition to those increases required under the HPS2 Rules and has discussed this with the Trustee. Jacobs considers it is important to focus its contributions to ensure beneficiaries’ entitlements are securely funded, ahead of increasing the liabilities of the Scheme by paying discretionary increases to pensions. Since the Trustee and Company's funding objectives have not yet been fully achieved the Company will not be funding a discretionary increase at this time." HPA will shortly be circulating guidance for scheme members to send letters to the trustee expressing outrage at this prioritisation of company over pensioners.
This Trustee notice also advised of a change in the scheme actuary. It is unclear when the change takes effect and who is undertaking the triennial review.
Future HPA Initiatives
The need for HPA continues and among the possible ongoing tasks to look after HPA members' interests are:
1. To keep HPA members informed about HPS2 and other pension-related matters.
2. To closely monitor HPS2, the HPS2 Trustee and Jacobs UK (the scheme sponsoring company) to see whether adequate contributions are being made to the pension scheme.
3. Continue to compare the compensation, benefits and received support of our members within both HPS2 and the PPF.
4 To examine and comment on proposals for changes to pension-related laws or regulations where we think they would affect our interests.
5. Take opportunities to press for better supervision of pension schemes and their sponsoring companies.
6. To facilitate social networking between former Halcrow employees.
Previous Newsletters
If you haven't been with HPA from the start or want to remind yourself of previous events then you can browse through the previous newsletters for which there is a full list here.