Jun 19
9
Members in their first 12 months of membership have to pay for the work done by consultants after they have used up their free allowance (which is 4 or 8 hours, depending on whether members joined for a year or two years). The hourly charge is linked to the fee that ALACE pays its consultants, which the ALACE Council on 6 June 2019 decided to increase with effect from 1 September 2019. To reflect... Read More »
Jun 19
7
ALACE's AGM will be held at 12.30pm for 1pm on Wednesday 3 July 2019 in the Granville Suite, Trouville Hotel, Priory Road, Bournemouth BH2 5DH. There will be significant items on the agenda relating to ALACE's future development, organisation and services that it offers, as well as a final chance to debate the proposed exit cap regulations (consultation closes on 3 July!). The hotel is very... Read More »
May 19
26
As ALACE members will know, Close AM/Close Brothers have provided a 'Financial Planning and Investment Management Service' for individual members for the last 8 years. Last year they also introduced a new 'Annual Allowance (AA) and Tax Return Service' to help members calculate whether or not they had a tapered AA, whether they owed any AA tax charges and, if so, how much, and how to complete... Read More »
Apr 19
10
ALACE has issued an immediate statement to draw attention to some of our concerns. To read it, click here. The ALACE Council meets in early June to consider a full response; and, if any member wishes to help contribute to that, they should contact Ian Miller, the Honorary Secretary, at... Read More »
Apr 19
10
The Treasury has today (10 April) published draft regulations, draft guidance and draft directions in respect of the £95k cap on exit payments. We will provide a full briefing to members by email tomorrow. Consultation closes on 3 July and then any regulations have to be approved by Parliament so implementation is not imminent. ALACE will respond to the consultation and will be working with... Read More »
Mar 19
5
ALACE has played its part with a coalition of unions that has secured a pay deal worth up to 9.5% for staff of Scottish councils over three years (up to 8.5% for those earning more than £80k). The deal with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities was unveiled on 4 March after protracted negotiations with the unions and includes a 3.5% increase backdated to April 2018 - which will be a flat... Read More »
Feb 19
14
ALACE's position statement about combining the roles of section 151 officer and chief executive has already started to receive coverage in the media. You can see the start of the MJ's on line story here and the full story is available at http://www.themj.co.uk (£). ALACE's press release on the topic can be seen here, and the full policy position... Read More »
Dec 18
29
Many congratulations to those ALACE members, past and present, who have been honoured in the 2019 New Year Honours... Read More »
Nov 18
4
Sadly, the Chancellor didn’t act on ALACE’s representations and simplify the taxation system by scrapping the annual allowance. You can read more about what the Budget meant for taxation of pensions here.... Read More »
Sep 18
28
The Budget will be on 29 October. ALACE has submitted representations... Read More »