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03/02 Media coverage raises questions about pensions
There's been an upsurge of interest in the media about pensions lately, after several prominent private-sector pension schemes announced that they were changing from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution schemes. And this interest has certainly led to some extra phone calls here at WYPF from members worried that the same could happen to the the Local Government Pension Scheme.
In a Defined Contribution scheme, your benefits build up based on the amount of contributions you and your employer pay while you're a member of the scheme plus the investment return on those contributions. When you retire, you use the ‘pot of money’ to ‘buy’ a pension. Investment returns in the future cannot be guaranteed. How much pensions will cost in the future can't be predicted either.
But in a Defined Benefit scheme like WYPF's, part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), your benefits are guaranteed and based only on two things: how long you have been in the pension scheme when you retire, and your ‘final salary’ at that point. The statutory, or legal, basis of the LGPS gives further guarantees to WYPF benefits.
The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) has been busy with a review of the LGPS. They haven't come to any conclusions yet, but one thing is clear: the statutory basis of the LGPS also guarantees that members won't be put into a worse position if the scheme changes.

01/02 Equitable Life policyholders support compromise deal
07/01 Equitable Life reduce with-profits bonus
Please see the Equitable Life website for full details.

03/01 New national organisation chooses WYPF
A new national organisation has chosen us to run the Local Government Pension Scheme for them. The Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) is a new organisation that comes into existence on 1 April 2001. It is formed by the amalgamation of 3 existing bodies:

• the Family Court Welfare Group;
• Guardians ad Litem;and
• the part of the Official Solicitor's Department that deals with cases related to children.

CAFCASS will operate throughout England and Wales.
CAFCASS will be using the Local Government Pension Scheme to provide pension cover for their employees. There's an LGPS administrator, like WYPF, in every county, but CAFCASS were looking for just one to run the LGPS for the whole of England and Wales. From all the administrators around the country, they chose WYPF. We're very pleased they chose us, especially since it's very rare for a new organisation like CAFCASS to come along.

23/02/01 Scottish Widows chosen as new AVC provider
We are pleased to announce today that we have chosen Scottish Widows to be our alternative AVC-provider. We'll write to all our AVC payers very soon with full details.

09/02/01 House of Lords decision for part-timers
In May we said that people who were kept out of the pension scheme because they worked part-time may get the chance to backdate their membership.
Two things had to happen first though:

• The House of Lords had to decide how to implement the decision made by the European Court of Justice; and
• The Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), which is responsible for the LGPS legal scheme rules, had to decide how the rules should change to incorporate the House of Lords' decision.

Now the House of Lords have decided that in some cases, membership of the LGPS can be backdated as far as 1976. Before we can do anything about this, the scheme rules will have to change.

If you think you are affected by this ruling, you can tell us now and we'll get in touch when the time comes. Just e-mail your name, address and National Insurance number. But if you have left the LGPS, you need to register an interest with an employment tribunal within 6 months of leaving.

02/01 Equitable announce asset sale to Halifax plc
Equitable Life announced on 6 February that the Halifax will pay up to £1 billion to buy its non-profit and unit-linked business, its operating assets, and Equitable's sales force. The with-profits fund stays mutually owned by the policy holders and closed for new business. This removes some of the uncertainty about the position of Equitable Life, but final details of the sale are yet to be settled and depend on agreement by Guaranteed Annuity Rate policy holders. Read more at www.equitable.co.uk .
Our position is unchanged. We intend to offer an alternative AVC provider to our members shortly. Check back here for the latest developments.

12/00 Equitable Life
On Friday 8 December 2000, the Equitable Life Assurance Society (our AVC provider) announced that it would no longer seek to write new policies for the Society. Their decision came after the last of the companies that said they were interested in buying the society withdrew from negotiations This is the situation:

• Most importantly, your AVC remains safe and secure;
• The Equitable Life remains solvent and continues to pay benefits to those who are entitled to receive them and will accept premiums from AVC payers;
• Equitable will allow new WYPF AVC Plan members because new members to WYPF's existing policy does not represent new business;
• The bonuses removed from with-profits AVC payers for the period 1 January to 31 July 2000 now look unlikely to be restored. The lost bonuses for this period were expected to be restored from the proceeds of the sale of Equitable Life.

So what does this mean for you? If you're paying AVCs now Under your plan you can stop contributing to your AVC at any time. But before you make any decision on that you may wish to seek independent financial advice. WYPF can not advise you.
The reports in the media over the weekend said that people should think about transferring out of Equitable Life. Because your fund with Equitable Life is an AVC, it can't be transferred to any other arrangement.
If you're a pensioner who paid AVCs Your AVC is not affected in any way by Equitable Life's decision. If you are getting an annuity paid by Equitable Life, it will still be paid normally.
If you have deferred benefits with WYPF and a deferred AVC fund Your AVC fund is safe and secure and is still being invested by Equitable Life. However, Equitable Life have said that investment returns in the future are likely to be lower than would have otherwise been expected.
Since Equitable Life was chosen as WYPF's AVC provider, that decision has been kept under regular review. WYPF's actuary, who has been giving us an independent view throughout Equitable Life's sale has now advised us that we should consider alternative AVC options. In fact, the review of whether Equitable Life should continue to be our AVC provider is already underway and Friday's announcement will add extra impetus to that review.
If you would like any more information about your AVC, Equitable Life have 2 help lines: 0870 600 2272 and 0870 900 8020. Their website has information too. You can also call us on 01274 753538, but I'm sorry: at the moment the information already here on our website is all we can give you. Please be assured though – we will keep you up to date with information about the WYPF AVC plan.

12/00 Best Value result announced
For much of the year 2000, our pension administration has been subject to external review under the government's Best Value arrangements. We were included in the first year of Bradford Council's 5-year rolling Best Value review program. We were the first of Bradford's major services to have our review completed when the review report was presented to Bradford's corporate overview and scrutiny committee on 21 November 2000.
The report made some recommendations for action but concluded that we provide Best Value for our members, our employing organisations and for Bradford Council. The report recommended that Bradford Council should continue providing the WYPF pensions administration service in house. The review still has to be checked and approved by the Audit Commission.