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NTL Retirement Association
Minutes of the 12th Annual General Meeting
held at Arqiva, Lichfield on Saturday 12th November 2005 at 2pm.
Present
Members:- Jim Alderson, Dick Attewell, Gerry Austin, Tony Blake, Bill Finlay, John Fuller, Tony Gee, Dave Hancock, Bill Hartley, Eddy Howarth, Anand Kaila, Mike Lambert, Garth Lawley, Keith Lebreton, John Mottram, Alf Parker, Denis Rider, Sam Roberts, Terry Sandland, Peter Smeed, John Thomas, Mike Thorne, Bill Vanderbyl, Joe Vella, Gordon Verity, Mike White.
Guests:- Mrs Hancock, Mrs Howarth, Mrs Smeed, Tony Corrigan, Dave Cowans, Richard Crossley, John Cuffe, Pat Daley, Paul French, Simon Furze, Shirley Furze, Fiona Lewis, Dave Partridge, Geof Potter, Alan Powell, Tony Skiafe
Apologies
Gordon Barry, Trevor Birkbeck, Geof Dibsdall, David Griffiths, Gerry Lloyd, Margaret Lynagh, Mike Phillips, Ed Read, Bert Spenser, Bob Wellbeloved
Minutes of 2004 AGM
Held on 20th November 2004 at ntl Crawley Court. The minutes were published in the December 2004 Newsletter to all members and so were taken as read. There were no amendments or additions proposed. The adoption of the Minutes was proposed (Chairman), seconded (Alf Parker) and carried unopposed.
All action points have been discharged, and continuing matters are included in the agenda for this meeting.
Chairman’s Report
Eddy Howarth welcomed everyone to the 12th AGM and thanked the committee and Janet Bourne for their work and support throughout his time as Chairman. Eddy then presented his report for 2004-2005 (see Appendix 1)
Membership & Recruitment
Tony Gee presented his report (attached as Appendix 2). There are at present 209 full members, 3 associate members and 4 honorary members.
Financial Report and Accounts for 2004-2005
The audited accounts for the year to September 2005 were tabled (included as Appendix 3). Acceptance of the accounts was proposed by Mike Lambert, seconded by John Mottram and carried unopposed.
Newsletter & Website Report
Gordon thanked everyone who had contributed to the newsletter over the past year and reiterated his plea for more contributions as filling 16 pages is not easy on his own. He continues to keep in touch with Tony Appleby, the ITCRA newsletter editor and to exchange articles. The web address has been added to the front page following the suggestion from last year's AGM and a close eye is being kept on the weight of the publication following problems in the west country with excess postage being charged even though the rest of the country seemed happy that the postage was correct for the weight - still Gordon did get a free book of stamps in compensation!
On the web site -
- the hit counter was over 1350
- the site was continually being improved - trying to get the pages to fill the screen no matter what resolution of monitor or which browser was used. Members were asked to try the site and report any problems with displaying pages.
- still trying to get Arqiva to put a link to www.ntlra.co.uk on their intranet
- OPA articles now on their own page linked from the home page. Articles archived after 1 month to keep the OPA page a reasonable length
- if the proposed name change were adopted the web site www.ntlpa.org.uk was available any comments on the content or layout welcomed
Social Activities
Eddy explained that the summer B-B-Q had been cancelled, albeit reluctantly, due to lack of support. The cost of the venue and public liability insurance had made it uneconomic.
Eddy asked for comments/suggestions for other events from the floor without much success! Sam Roberts gave the provisional date for the spring golf day as 11th April at the Royal Winchester. Details to be announced as soon as available. Keith LeBreton gave details of the next Booze Cruise travelling to Calais on Tuesday November 29th and pointed out that the ntl Ski Trip should now be known as the NTLRA trip as retirees outnumbered the working. (only 2 working for ntl, 3 for Arqiva with 7 retirees and the rest friends and relations!)
Pension Matters, OPA Report and Member Nominated Trustees
In Bob Wellbeloved's absence, John Thomas gave a brief report on the Pension scene -
- The main changes affecting our scheme this year have been the completion of the sale of Broadcast to Arqiva and the 'merger' of ntl and Telewest.
- Bob had attended the last OPA meeting at which the role of actuaries in pension schemes was discussed and a spreadsheet demonstrated. This showed clearly the effect on the funding level of a scheme of changes to the various parameters - life expectancy, available interest rates etc. The OPA web site is a good source of information on pensions with selected reports being added to the NTLRA website
- The Pension Protection Fund is now in existence, set up under the 2005 Pensions Act. The new pension regulator is taking a very keen interest in the financial affairs of companies with pension fund deficits particularly when they are taken over or sold.
- The Turner report on pensions is expected at the end of the month and the Government will have 6 months to consider it.
Tony Gee then listed the three main areas of interest identified by the committee -
- Current Funding - The trustees of the ntl Plan have said that the fund is 'fully funded on an on-going basis' - what are the figures and what are the underlying assumptions? What is the true position?
- Future Funding - What is the position over future funding from ntl? The plan now has approximately 60 contributing members, 450 deferred pensioners and 450 drawing pensioners. How will ntl view the scheme in the future? What effect will the Telewest 'merger' have on ntl's position?
- Appointment of trustees - From next March/April all plans must have 1/3 of the trustees 'member nominated'. The final details have not yet been published but there may be a 6 - 12 month period for plans to implement changes. How are ntl and the trustees going to implement the changes?
Comments & questions were then taken from the floor -
- John Thomas pointed out the concerns being expressed in the papers and elsewhere over the problems arising for pension plans where the parent companies are sold to overseas owners, who are beyond the reach of the new pensions regulator. Tony expressed his view that as far as ntl was concerned, the fact that all its assets were in the UK should mean that our plan would fall under the regulators remit.
- Tony Skaife asked if was possible for ntl plan members to take their contributions as a lump sum and invest it elsewhere to get a better pension. Bill Vanderbyl answered that it was possible but that one would have to be very careful to look at all aspects of the change. Joe Vella pointed out that 2 private pension providers had gone under in the last year so things might not always be better in that sector.
- Mike Thorne suggested that the biggest issue was that members had very little control over their fund and how it was run. What could NTLRA do to ensure it had a right to be part of the nomination process for trustees? Tony answered that the detailed regulations were not published yet but that the committee would be following events closely and aiming to take whatever active role they could in nominating trustees and in encouraging our members to take active roles. Bill Vanderbyl pointed out that two of the current trustees Dick Buckle and himself (making 1/3 of the total 6) had been 'member nominated' when they joined the trustees as BECTU nominees and might satisfy the new rules.
- On the funding issues, Bill reiterated the trustees statement that the fund was 'fully funded on an ongoing basis' with £230m invested, with approximately 50% in equities and 50% in bonds. The long-standing agreement with ntl was that ntl's funding would be set at a level that would make up any deficit within 10 years. The actuary sets the contribution rate based on the review, the results of which should be published in 2006.
- In reply to a question on winding up of the plan, Bill said that the trustees could insist on the plan being wound up under certain circumstances. If the scheme were to be wound up, ntl would have to meet all the plan's predicted liabilities immediately. It would almost certainly be impossible whilst ntl was still committed to funding the scheme and had always agreed to the level of funding requested by the trustees.
Meeting With ntl Group and Trustees
The next meeting with ntl and the trustees has been provisionally set for the 8th December 2005. Confirmation of attendees, location and date are expected soon.
Proposal to Change the Name of the Association to NTL Pension Association
Eddy introduced the proposed change of name and outlined the committees reasoning behind it. It was felt that 'NTL Pension Association' would better reflect the full potential membership than the current name.
The change was proposed by the Chairman, seconded by Tony Blake and carried unanimously.
Bill Hartley proposed that while the Constitution was being amended for the name change, the opportunity should be taken to replace the references to 'Pension Scheme' by 'Pension Plan' to bring it into line with the Trust Deed and the rest of the Pension documentation. The change was seconded by Sam Roberts and carried unanimously.
Election of Officers and Committee for the Year 2005/06
Following Eddy Howarth's completion of 3 years as Chairman, Bill Hartley was proposed as the new Chairman by Eddy, seconded by Sam Roberts and carried unanimously. Eddy agreed to remain on the committee as a co-opted member to provide some continuity following the change of chairman.
Mike Thorne was nominated by the meeting as a committee member, proposed by John Mottram, seconded by Mike Lambert and carried unanimously.
The Committee for 2005/06 would therefore comprise-
Chairman Bill Hartley
Treasurer Tony Gee
Secretary John Fuller
Members Denis Rider, Gordon Verity (Newsletter & web site editor), Mike Thorne
Co-opted Eddy Howarth, Bob Wellbeloved (OPA representative)
A.O.B.
- Bill Hartley thanked Eddy for his work for the Association during his three years as Chairman.
- Alf Parker asked if the new Chairman could give a brief resume of his career with IBA/NTL for the benefit of the newer members. Bill replied that he had started work with the IBA in 1970 in Masts & Aerials Section working on antenna design. He had changed roles in about 1990, retiring in 2000 as ntl's Antenna Maintenance Manager.
- Tony Skaith asked if, in the light of the printing & posting costs, the newsletter could be e-mailed to members. Gordon replied that it was e-mailed where possible and he would include a reminder in the next edition.
- Tony Blake asked if, as the committee seemed to lack regional representation, the committee would be prepared to pay travelling expenses to allow a co-opted member from further afield to attend committee meetings. Eddy explained that we had tried in the past to include a greater regional representation and that expenses could be paid. Denis Rider pointed out that he was a committee member and not from the Crawley Court area. Bill said that in his view, the committee was fairly small and that with the loss of experience resulting from the three-yearly rotation of officers, it might be advantageous to increase the size of the committee and that the committee would consider it.
- Mike Lambert suggested that, with the advent of the new name, it would be a good time to re-launch the Association and that we should try and use KPMG as a way to reach all members of the pension plan.
- The date of the next AGM will be held in November 2006. The venue and time will be notified to members through the newsletter.
John Fuller
Hon Sec
16/11/05
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