Useful Links
These are a collection of sites we find useful. We use them with care as should you as we do not endorse them, and so our usual Disclaimer applies.
Please click on one of the following Link types to view further details:
Government bodies | Investment Matters | Miscellaneous | News & Weather | Professional | Reference
Government bodies | Comment |
| Acts of parliament | Every Act since 1988 |
| Bank of England | News from the Bank including the Quarterly Bulletins and MPC meeting minutes |
| Directgov | The entry portal to all government sites |
| DWP consultations | Consultation papers issued by the DWP and responses |
| Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) | A neat way of keeping tabs on DWP ministers' speeches ... go to Newsroom/Ministers' Speeches |
| Directory of UK Political Parties | Links to all the parties thanks to Yahoo |
| Financial Services Authority | Contains information, publications and advice on financial services |
| The Government Actuary's Department | Provides advice to the government and is itself a consulting firm. Useful information on public sector pension schemes and demographic data |
| HMRC - Pension Scheme Services | The pensions branch of the HM Revenue & Customs |
| HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) | Online versions of HMRC leaflets including self assessment |
| HM Treasury | Including details of the Budget |
| Judgment rulings of the House of Lords | Includes the Preston v Wolverhampton NHS Trust case regarding part-timers |
| Office for National Statistics | Includes latest information on the economy including the usual indices |
| Pension Protection Fund (PPF) | Created under the Pensions Act 2004, the PPF came into effect from 6 April 2005. For eligible defined benefit pension schemes, the PPF takes responsibility for paying pensions where the sponsoring employers become insolvent |
| The Pensions Regulator (TPR) | Created under the Pensions Act 2004, with effect from 6 April 2005 the TPR replaces OPRA as the new regulator of UK work-based pension schemes |
| Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) | The non-departmental public body whose job it is to set up a national, trust-based pension scheme called 'personal accounts' |
| Stakeholder Pensions | Provides information on stakeholder pensions for employers, providers and individuals |
Investment Matters | Comment |
| Exchange rate lookup | Covers most currencies, and allows historical data to be downloaded in csv format for use in Excel |
| FSA Annuities | Online open market annuity rates |
| FTSE.com | Includes archive of recent index values |
| GeoInvestor | Comprehensive links to financial information for many countries |
| iboxx indices | Useful information on the £ and € bond market including prices and yields |
| Bond Resources | Find the current yield on any US bond |
| World currencies and abbreviations | A full listing of world currencies and their official names |
Miscellaneous | Comment |
| AFC Wimbledon | All the latest from "by far the greatest team the world has ever seen" |
| Babel Fish | Translation service |
| FT Your Money | The pensions part includes a pension and annuity calculator |
| How stuff works | No introduction needed |
| Symantec AntiVirus hoaxes | Gives fixes for problematic viruses |
| The Big Project | Gives links to just about anything you can think of |
| WhatIs | Explanation of computing terms |
News & Weather | Comment |
| BBC news | Online version of the BBC News |
| BBC Weather forecasts | The most talked about subject in the UK |
| FT | The Financial Times - online version |
| Guardian | Online version |
| Independent | Online version |
| ITN | Online version of Independent Television News |
| News Now | Updated every five minutes. Covers world news stories |
| Reuters | The news agency |
| Telegraph | Searchable archive from The Daily Telegraph |
| Teletext | ITV's text service |
| The Economist | Complements the magazine |
| The Times | Online version |
| Yahoo UK news | Reuters and other newsfeeds |
Professional | Comment |
| Accounting Standards Board (ASB) | Includes Statements of Standard Accounting Practice (SSAPs) and Financial Reporting Standards (FRSs) |
| Actuary magazine | The magazine for actuaries published by the Staple Inn Actuarial Society |
| Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) | Discussion papers, press releases, policy statements provided by association members, all of whom are consulting actuaries |
| Association of Pensions Lawyers (APL) | Information on publications, conferences, seminars etc provided by the association |
| Faculty and Institute of Actuaries | The professional bodies for UK actuaries |
| International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) | News and full details of accounting standards issued by the IASB |
| National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) | Gives details of the NAPF's training courses, conferences and news |
| The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) | Gives information, guidance and help to pension scheme members |
| Pensions Ombudsman | Gives details of procedures for complaints and disputes in the running of pension schemes |
| The Pensions Management Institute (PMI) | Provides information for pensions professionals |
| The Society of Pension Consultants (SPC) | The representative body for a wide range of providers of advice and services to work-based pension schemes and their sponsors |
| UK parliament publications search engine | Can search on words, dates, speaker's surname etc. |
Reference | Comment |
| The AA | Needs no introduction |
| BT Directory Enquiries | A free version of the old 192 service, renamed 118500 for short! Use the wildcards * and ?. |
| Mappy | Equivalent to the AA site for planning journeys in Europe |
| Network Rail | Includes train timetables within the UK |
| Royal Mail | Postcode or address finder |
| Smooth Hound | Search guide for Hotels and Guest Houses in the UK and Worldwide |
| StreepMap | Alternative to the A-Z |
| Thompsons 'Up My Street' | Pop in your postcode and see if the ACORN profile fits you! |
| The Trainline.com | Books train tickets |
| Transport for London | Information on transport services including tubes and buses |
| The Tube | All about the London Underground including route planner and ticket prices |
| Yell.com | Contact details for businesses and services in the UK |
| YourDictionary.com | US dictionary and thesaurus |
