History:
The Marconi Companies Charitable Fund (“The Charity”) was established under a High Court Order of 20th February 1967 (Charity No 255710). Following a Trustee resolution of October 2017, the appointed Trustees of a related non-charitable fund, The Marconi Companies Revised Benevolent Fund, resolved to transfer the assets of this fund to The Charity and cease operations. The purpose was to simplify administration and better coordinate the investment of the combined funds. The two funds had a common objective, going back to original formation of the Benevolent Fund in 1914.
Background to the proposed change in objects:
As you will appreciate from the objects set out in the notice (click here), the Pension Funds specified have been closed or merged into other funds. The Trustees (all volunteers) have long been seeking to support claimants from the wider Extended Class as defined. The fund has had a maximum of 15 claimants in the past 20 years.
This has dwindled down to no current claimants – with mostly dependent spouses passing away over time. A key factor has been the progressive reduction in ex-employee numbers since the peak employment of the Essex based former Marconi Companies in the 1960s and 70’s, combined with most longer-term employees being in receipt of industry standard company pensions, with spousal benefits.
The existence of the The Charity is known to our HR departments, has been advertised on notice boards, discussed with local Citizens Advice Bureaus and other military related charities such as SAFA. The fund can also be found via the Charities Commission website. Work has also been done with the pension scheme representatives to identify a wider range of people who may qualify. None of these outlets has resulted in eligible cases of need coming forward. We are informed there has been limited evidence of ex-employees and particularly members of our related pension schemes experiencing poverty that The Charity or similar could support. A more formal link to the MVA as part of this process would have been beneficial of course.
ECF background:
The Chelmsford based ECF will manage the residual funds in accordance with its established governance procedures. They will seek to sustain the c£800k fund for the long term (intending to allocate no more than c5% of the fund value in any single year), source a wider potential beneficiary pool in its core “relief from poverty” objective, whilst also supporting ex-employees as the need arises. The ECF charity has wide charitable purposes which include the prevention of relief of poverty. It operates in Essex which was the heartland of the Marconi business whose ex-employees were the intended beneficiaries of the MCC Fund. Existing Trustees will sit on an Advisory Panel to keep continuity. The aim of the proposed transfer is to “re-life” the Fund to achieve its core purpose of relief from poverty, whilst not disadvantaging future eligible claims from former employees and their dependants per the original Trust Deed.
Communication of the objects change:
Via the ECF the case manager at the CC has confirmed they would like us to advertise the Public Notice of the background to the fund and proposed change via the following three channels:
1. Company internal notice boards
2. The Marconi Veterans Association (via this web page).
3. Marconi’s wider Community Investment intranet or internet (subject to agreement)
We obtained agreement to place a note on the BAES CI site and have refreshed the notifications on company notice boards. Advertising this via the MVA would then also provide an opportunity to communicate with a further audience of ex Marconi employees.
Click here for thr PUBLIC NOTICE OF INTENDED AMENDMENT TO OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY
Contact for more information:
Ian Muir
Company appointed Trustee Chair
M: +44(0) 7801 714959 | E: