stop press*****stop press*****stop press*****stop press*****stop press
This article asked you to vote for Andy – you did and he’s in the last three as our most influential pension’s person! Thanks to everyone for this – Andy didn’t make the original long-list and had to be appended! This shows that the cream rises to the top!
For no good reason, I was sitting at the back of a minibus speeding up an Icelandic mountain where a bright-eyed Scotsman engaged me in conversation over the fundamentals of European pensions. By the end of the day we’d seen Jo Stieglitz carried out of his skidoo with a broken leg, eaten smoked puffin and covered all three of the OECD’s pillars.
Who this “Andy” was, I didn’t know. I did know that he worked for the Government, was an actuary and spent much of his time on assignment to Ayia Napa, Reykjavik and other rave capitals (this was the early 90s).
Today Andrew Young OBE is a candidate to be recognised as the person who has made the greatest contribution to UK pensions over the past 20 years.
VOTE ANDY YOUNG!
Voting closes at 5pm today (25 April). Details are on the link at the bottom but to cut a long link short, all you have to do is send an email to jonathan.stapleton@incisivemedia.com with “Andy Young gets my vote” in the header.
Remember – voting closes at 5pm today – tomorrow your vote may not be counted!
Voting for Andy, you’ll be recognising the technical architect of the PPF, the author of the Young report on FAS and the man who brought Tony Blair to power
The final achievement is tenuous , but Andy did supply the numbers for Peter Lilly’s abortive “Basic Pension Plus” , which as everyone knows, made the conservatives unelectable – things only got better! Andy shaped not just pension policy , but the shape of British politics!
Following the Jags
Andy supports Partick Thistle. Now you may ask writing a blog for a Partick Thistle supporter is a worthwhile activity. It illustrates what I love about him!
If the Jags are the alternative to the Glasgow old firm, Young is the alternative to the pension establishment. He is that very British kind of genius – the iconoclast.
Amazingly, a man who refuses to touch his forelock to anyone, has been relied on by successive pension ministers for his judgement, acumen and good maths.
Andy Young has a moral compass, whose aim is true, Ministers have come to rely on that. He is Partick not Celtic – and certainly not Rangers!
Evidenced based
When the Financial Assistance scheme (FAS) was set up in 2004 it offered minimal compensation to pensioners. It was the Young report that The Government finally announces £2.9bn rescue package for pensioners. This boosted the compensation available to 130,000 workers and bridged the gap till the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) took over.
Andy was chief architect of the PPF and a passionate defender of the lifeboat. It has been an extraordinary success story. Without it, the reputation of pensions in this country and abroad would have been severely damaged. With it, those in ailing occupational DB schemes have comfort and those in failed schemes comfort. The PPF may not be perfect, but it works and its foundations and superstructure were designed and overseen by Andy Young.
@glesgabrighton
If you are on twitter, follow Andy on this handle. Not only will you get vigorous views on our current pension system but you’ll have an iconoclast’s view of world music from Springsteen to Jimmy Lafave
The joy of purdah. No UK Pension tweets for now. Today Celebrating Jimmy Lafave, sadly very ill in USA (1/2) pic.twitter.com/DqP1Ch9hBJ
— andrew young (@glesgabrighton) April 22, 2017
Andy still works as a strategist for the Pensions Regulator, if you speak with the youngsters who know him, they will tell you he knows more of the Brighton music scene than they do.
His wife Sara, his huge number of kids and his fan club (of which I am a member) know Andy as 67 young. He is a man of infinite compassion and good humour and a man who when angry – cannot be stopped!
Andy was given an OBE in this year’s honours, unlike others in financial services, this scarcely got a mention (even in tPR’s own press release). But nobody more deserved the honour and no honour could have given me more happiness.
So put your feet up, slap on the cans and listen to Bob singing of my good friend !
Details of the competition and other candidates can be found from this link.
