In mid-March he UK actuarial profession kicked into touch what is probably the most contentious issue it has had to confront over the past 20 years; transfer values.

The Department for Work and Pensions, at the request of the profession's Pensions Board, has agreed to be the arbiter, setting the standards used to calculate them. The profession found itself so bitterly divided on a new guidance note on transfer values that it had to ask government to make the difficult decision on its behalf.