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Report from Bob Wellbeloved
The meeting was chaired by Brian Marks with Roger Turner, Executive Officer, acting as Secretary. There were about 20 other attendees and 5 apologies were received.
The Minutes of the 2004 AGM were approved with one minor amendment.
Chairman's Report
The Chairman said that although the Pensions Act was now in force, it was only an 'umbrella' Act with many amendments and additions still to come in the next few years. It was therefore essential that the OPA remained an influential voice during this period. Much had been achieved in the past 18 months and the OPA had been mentioned 6 times in Hansard. The provisions in the Act relating to the nomination and appointment of trustees were a particular example where lobbying had been successful and the next step would be to press for the proportion of member-nominated trustees to be increased from one third to a half.
The Chairman went on to say that he had been invited to join the Advisory Panel to the new pensions regulator and that the OPA Council had welcomed this news. He concluded by stressing that although the OPA would be doing everything it could to influence developments and legislation relating to occupational pensions in the coming years, it was vitally important that OPA members continued to monitor their own pension schemes vigilantly.
Treasurer's Report
Bernard Potter, the OPA Treasurer, tabled the Report and confirmed that the accounts had been independently audited. These show a current balance of £11,304 but he pointed out that the funding situation was anticipated to change significantly in the coming months. Virtually all subscriptions had been received from the 29 member Associations but there would be considerable expenditure to come during the remainder of the year.
A question was raised about the £1,000 expenditure shown in the Report under the heading of 'Lobbying'. Roger Turner explained that this was a contribution made towards professional lobbying and advisory services during the past year.
There was a short discussion about how best to optimise the interest and tax liabilities on the balance of funds but it was agreed that this would be dealt with outside the meeting.
There was then some discussion about the level of subscriptions, how to raise the profile of the OPA and how to recruit more pensioner associations into the OPA but no firm conclusions were reached.
The Treasurer's Report was then approved.
Executive Officer's Report
Roger Turner presented this Report and said that the recent election would necessitate some changes in tactics. A new, all-party Parliamentary Group on pensions will have to be set up and will have a key role. The reduced government majority may help persuade it to listen more carefully to arguments put forward by the OPA and other bodies. Regulations which modify the Pensions Act will start to come in during 2006 and it was essential that the OPA and individual pensioner associations start lobbying now.
Roger went on to say that there was a growing concensus that changes to the state pension may well become interlinked with occupational pension issues. The situation would become clearer when the Turner Report is published later this year.
Election of Council Members
The Chairman said that the Constitution of the OPA allowed for up to 12 members of Council. However, because of insufficient nominations, there had been only 10 during the past year and one had since stood down. At the Council Meeting immediately preceeding the AGM, it had been proposed that if no further nominations were forthcoming, the Council should consist of 9 members for the year 2005/6. This proposal was approved but the Chairman reminded those present that further nominations could be put forward during the course of the year.
Future Work of the OPA
The Chairman raised a number of issues relating to the future work of the OPA, including:
· producing a 'manifesto' clarifying the OPA's aims and objectives
· circulating a straightforward questionnaire to member associations
· increasing the profile of the OPA
· a membership drive to recruit new members
The above were discussed at some length and a number of suggestions made by those present were noted for future consideration by the OPA Council.
A.O.B.
One of the main topics raised and discussed was the lack of information from the trustees of pension schemes. Most of those present said that apart from the annual valuation and the tri-annual review of their schemes, they knew virtually nothing about what the trustees discussed at their meetings or what proposed changes might be under consideration. The representative of the BBC Pensioners' Association was the one exception. He said that their nominated trustee reported back to the Association's Committee on a monthly basis and as a result, they felt that they were "pretty much in the picture". Several people expressed surprise about this because of the Trustee Rules which applied to all schemes. I suggested that in the current climate of improved freedom of information, this might be an area where political lobbying might be worthwhile with a view to relaxation of the Rules about confidentiality.
In closing, the Chairman reminded the meeting that the next S.E. Regional Meeting was to be held at Sunbury-on-Thames on 21st July at 10:30am. Pensioner trustees would be particularly welcome to attend. Bernard Potter added that there was to be a N.W. Regional Meeting on 1st June and asked OPA representatives to publicise this within their Associations.
Bob Wellbeloved
11th May 2005
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