Throughout September and October, members of the IFoA executive team attended the UK Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party conferences, representing the actuarial profession in a whirlwind of networking events and panel discussions with businesses, think tanks, politicians, and government and opposition ministers.

They represented the actuarial profession in a whirlwind of networking events and panel discussions with businesses, think tanks, politicians, and government and opposition ministers.
At the Conservative conference on 30 September, the IFoA hosted a joint fringe event with the Social Market Foundation think tank, entitled 'Getting the UK retirement ready in the age of auto-enrolment and pension freedoms'. Two Conservative MPs spoke on the panel alongside the IFoA's pensions board chair Mark Williams, including the pensions minister Guy Opperman MP. Journalists in attendance at the event were able to get the scoop on the government's recently announced Pensions Bill, which it hoped to pass in the next session of Parliament, as Opperman outlined some of its contents in a wide-ranging discussion on the future of retirement saving in the UK.
The event was also an opportunity for Williams to preview an upcoming piece of IFoA research on pensions adequacy with the minister and other industry stakeholders in a packed room in the conference secure zone.
The event was live streamed and can be viewed online at: bit.ly/360Cw53
You can also read a round-up of the highlights from the other party conferences at: bit.ly/2VQO4TV