Released on: November 28, 2007, 3:29 am

Press Release Author: Alexandra Lewis

Industry:

Press Release Summary: Appointing directors with business failures behind them could
jeopardise savings for companies which pay into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF),
according to Aon Consulting, a leading pension, benefits and HR consulting firm.
Speaking to companies with final salary schemes today in Birmingham, in the first of
a series of regional seminars, Aon is urging companies to adopt measures that will
improve their failure score and reduce their levy into the PPF.

Press Release Body: Appointing directors with business failures behind them could
jeopardise savings for companies which pay into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF),
according to Aon Consulting, a leading pension, benefits and HR consulting firm.
Speaking to companies with final salary schemes today in Birmingham, in the first of
a series of regional seminars, Aon is urging companies to adopt measures that will
improve their failure score and reduce their levy into the PPF.

PPF proposals mean that a company's position at 31 March 2008 will be used to set
levies for two years, making it crucial for businesses to improve their position
over the next six months. Contributions are based on a company's pension deficit
and its risk of insolvency, ie its subsequent need to claim from the PPF, which is
measured by a Dun & Bradstreet failure score.

Aon, which has saved its clients over £40 million in levies in the past two years,
is highlighting various actions to ease the financial impact of the obligatory levy
by looking at ways to improve failure scores. These include:

* appointing directors with experience of running successful businesses as
scores will take into account management histories of insolvencies. The more
directors the better, as a board of ten is less likely to make a poor decision
than a sole director;
* satisfying outstanding county court judgments or secured charges as a 'quick
win' to improve a credit rating;
* paying supplier invoices on time, as the average time you take to settle is
taken into account.

Paul McGlone, principal & actuary at Aon Consulting, said: \"Year 2007/08 saw
substantial increases in PPF levies and up to five fold for some companies on the
previous year. The levies are expected to rise again in March so keeping your
scheme\'s levy at a low level is important. For schemes and companies that are
prepared to devote energy to this issue, there are considerable savings to be made.
On the other hand, those that don\'t tackle the issue will find not only that they
miss out on the benefit from levy reductions, but they may also see increases over
time to compensate for the actions taken by other schemes.\"

Robert Palmer, senior consultant and actuary at Aon Consulting in Birmingham, added:
"The Midlands has many long standing businesses with correspondingly mature final
salary schemes. This legacy of pension provision is placing a significant burden on
many of our clients and out of proportion with the size of their current operations.
We've successfully worked with many of our clients to reduce the size of their
levies and are now encouraging other local companies to consider the options to help
them also alleviate this burden."

Aon UK is ranked by A.M. Best as the number one global insurance brokerage based on
brokerage revenues and voted best insurance intermediary, offering classic car
insurance, high value home insurance, entertainment
and media insurance and construction site insurance.


Web Site:
http://www.commercialservices.aon.co.uk/commercialservices/microsites/entertainment/


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