Welcome to you all and thank you for taking the time to attend the AGM and welcome to those members who have joined us by Zoom.

Before I continue, I would like to take a moment to remember our ex-colleagues and members who have sadly passed away since the last AGM.  Our thoughts are with their family and friends.

With crossed fingers as I say this, we have had a near-normal year of events around the Regions.  I am delighted to say that all the Regions where we have a representative has held at least one welfare lunch or get together for our members with over 250 people attending events.

None of these events would happen without our wonderful regional representatives and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all their hard work so a big thank you to Frank Appleyard, Haverhill, Andrew Clark, Glasgow, Andrew Crocker, Bristol, Joan Rhodes, Maidstone, Ken Taylor, Leeds, Adrian Smith, Bolton David Skuse, Newcastle, Janis Mildwater, Kendal and Harvey Pennington for the ex-Pru members.

In addition, we held a remembrance service on Armistice Day 11th November 2022 to remember all the ex-Provincial staff who had served during the two great wars and subsequent conflicts. The event was held at St George’s church Kendal with the service taken by Ashley Henderson.  Sir Christopher and Lady Scott were in attendance representing the family.  We presented Sir Christopher Scott with a copy of the beautiful; memorial book which holds the names of all those staff who served during the wars.  There were 30 members in attendance followed by refreshments at Castle Green Hotel afterwards

Advance notice forthcoming planned events:
• Liverpool has a reunion lunch on Wednesday 18th October
• Bristol has a lunch on 17th November 2023
• Maidstone lunch is scheduled for Wednesday 6th December
• Haverhill has a lunch Thursday 7th December
• Kendal Christmas lunch on Sunday 10 December

Notification of events are updated to this website.

The committee and representatives try to provide a keeping in touch service for members and we are here for the welfare of our members to provide help and guidance where we can.  If you know of any members who are struggling and need assistance, then please contact one of the committee or your regional representative.  Sometimes just a phone call from someone is a big help.

A recent example of how we can help was the Capita Data Breach.  We posted information on the website and Facebook page and sent an email to those members for whom we hold an email address.  We were contacted by a number of members who needed help.

On that note … the current update on the Capita Data Breach ...

As you will be aware AXA wrote to all pensioners on 30th May advising of the Capita Cyber Incident.  They advised Capita were offering a 12-month free membership to Experian and urged all pensioners to take advantage of this service to protect themselves.  Effectively by signing up for this service you can lock your credit account and therefore prevent anyone from taking out a credit agreement in your name.  This prevents identity theft which is probably the biggest risk of this data leak.

The data at risk was Name; Member unique identification number; National Insurance Number; Pension in payment amount; Tax code and Tax paid.

Since then, Capita identified 260 pensioners across the whole AXA Group pension scheme of 13,755 pensions in payment had their bank details also compromised.  Capita wrote separately to advise those 260 members so if you didn’t receive a letter then your bank details were not leaked.

AXA has recently written again to all pensioners over the age of 80 reminding them to take up the Experian offer.  To date approx. 26% of the total AXA Group pensioners have registered.  I would urge any pensioner who hasn’t yet activated the Experian account to do so. If anyone needs help, then feel free to contact either myself or your representative and we can call you and talk you through the process.

We all need to be vigilant if we receive calls from people stating they are our bank or suspicious emails containing links.  The safest way is to contact your bank by phone using a trusted telephone number rather than responding to suspicious emails.

I am keeping in touch with AXA regarding any further actions that need to be taken and I have also contacted a Barings law firm in Manchester who are acting for several other companies who have members who have been affected.  I will be having a meeting with them over the next few weeks and will post an update on the website.

We will ensure any further updates are posted to this website ...

Following the decision by AXA to withdraw funding to the Pension Associations, we still feel able to keep APPA going for several years yet, however that will depend on ensuring we have enough representatives across the country so I urge anyone who would be willing to be a representative in the future to drop me a line. We need a pipeline of people as one or two of our representatives have advised they would like to pass over the baton.  It is only by providing a nearby point of contact for members that we can provide assistance.  

On a lighter note, our Treasurer Ray Dee went off to New Zealand in February of this year to follow the England cricket team in the Tests.  Unfortunately, he landed just as a hurricane was hitting the country.  Typical Ray, he causes havoc wherever he goes!!  

Last year I mentioned our ex-colleague Barrie Wells and his foundation which helps fund budding young athletes.  It was therefore heartening to see two of the athletes he has helped support, namely Katrina Johnson Thompson win Gold in the heptathlon and Keely Hodgkinson win silver in the 800 metres at the recent world championships in Budapest.

I am sure many of you will remember Phil Judkins, well Phil has taken up a Fellowship at Cambridge University, a lifelong ambition now realised.  We wish him well.

Just to wish you all the very best and thank you for listening

The committee and I are happy to take any questions …

Pat Brady
Chair APPA