HALCROW PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION 

 Newsletter No 6 : 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

The 2013 HPA Annual General Meeting - Final Reminder

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.

By the time you receive this newsletter the AGM will be open. The AGM will take place from the morning of 22nd April to the evening of 28th April (UK time). For those who have not yet registered at the forum and/or paid an HPA membership subscription, the duration of the meeting means that it is not too late to take action. Those people who have already registered for the forum can click here to go straight to the AGM.

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. A response was received on 18th April advising that the matter would be brought to the attention of the trustees and a note would be sent out to HPS members when there was something to report. (The trustees should already be aware that they are in breach of statutory requirements.)

The HPA chairman also made non-specific enquiries of the Pensions Regulator Analysis of the possible courses of action open to members. The reply indicated that the situation we are in (no Valuation Report, no information from the Trustees) would justify a specific complaint through the whistle-blower mechanism. It also indicated the most likely cause was a failure of the company to agree to the schedule of contributions by the company as assessed by the auditors, which could lead to the closing of the scheme. The HPA is concerned about this potential course of action and, until there is information to the contrary, has to consider this to be a plausible scenario. 

Article in Building Magazine

Building magazine recently contacted the president of CH2M Hill’s international division, Jaqueline Hinman for comment on the recently published 2011 Annual Accounts. She is reported to have said "the parent firm was now taking steps to support the pension scheme. She said: “Since the acquisition the previously agreed payment schedule has been honoured every month including the planned uplift in contributions in 2012 and 2013.” The full transcript of the article is available in the HPA forum.

However, until actual numbers have been published, we have to assumed that the contributions have continued at the low level that the Halcrow management previously agreed with the HPS trustees. The 2011 Halcrow annual accounts show a substantially increased pension deficit which will need a correspondingly increased level of funding from the company.

Purpose of HPA

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.