The Act
3.The main purpose of the Act is to address a restriction contained in the Writers to the Signet Dependants’ Annuity Fund Order Confirmation Act 1982 (“the 1982 Act”) as to the identity of the ‘collector’ of the Writers to the Signet Dependants’ Annuity Fund (“the Fund”). The Act removes the requirement that the collector be a contributor to the Fund and introduces a new requirement that the collector be an individual. The change does not affect the provisions on election of the collector contained in the 1982 Act and does not otherwise affect the role or functions of the collector.
4.The change protects against the risk that the pool of available persons eligible to be elected as collector will be reduced to zero. The number of contributors to the Fund is steadily diminishing, the Fund having been closed to new contributors in 1989. It also gives the members of the Fund the opportunity to elect an individual with relevant experience and expertise notwithstanding that individual is not a contributor to the Fund.
5.A secondary purpose of the Bill is to modernise the definition of “actuary” in the 1982 Act to reflect changes in terminology following the merger of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland and the Institute of Actuaries in 2011.