John Ritchie ponders the Mayans and G Day
The Mayans marked 21st December 2012 as the end of an epoch. Some have interpreted their prediction as indicating the end of ALL epochs.
well, the world ceasing to exist will probably not wash as an excuse with clients or regulators for failing to implement the terms of the EU's Gender Directive (G Day) from that date.
Operating on the group side, as Ellipse does, some may think we can ignore its requirements because our policies are not separate from the employment relationship, as the Directive puts it, i.e. policies set up by employers seem to be specifically exempted.
They might be quite right in some instances, but there are a number of instance where this is not the case.
In particular, group critical illness benefits are captured within the P11D charges, so definitely will be subject to the directive.
One thing that is clear, however, is that for advisers clarity is a key requirement to any changes to business in the future.
IFAs already have a huge amount to content with this year, RDR and auto-enrolment being just two other examples of the significant changes ahead, so we plan to be very clear on exactly what we will be doing in the run up to G-Day and we hope other providers will be doing the same.
We've decided that rather than have a range of possibilities depending on the circumstances, it's easier to switch all our rate tables to a unisex basis and have done with it.
Of course, if the world really does come to an end as predicted by the Mayans, the work Ellipse will have put in to switch to unisex rates will have been a waste of time, but at least my embarrassment will be short-lived...
John Ritchie is CEO of Ellipse
