Dear C-Planner,

As you know a number of C-Planners have written to OPAS. OPAS has passed the concerns and complaints onto the Occupational Pensions Ombudsman for his review. At the current time those, who have written, are waiting for a ruling from the Ombudsman. We do not know when he will make his ruling.

Once we have the Ombudsman decision and IBMs response to it, we will then decide how to proceed. Until we hear this, we do not know the 'scale' of the problem. One action might be to form a 'C-Planners Association' to look after your interests - that is why we have asked you to register on our website. Should the time come, we may need to act quickly and you will then receive an email inviting you to support further actions.

In the meantime, we are preparing just in case we have to take the matter further. We are analysing the available data and information. A number of items have recently been added to the Document section on the website, in particular there are some extracts from the Trust Deeds (however you need to be a lawyer to read these!).

The Message Board is being used for discussion purposes and this also has a number of interesting topics. You are encouraged to use this to air your views. Please feel free to become involved in the discussion of what is happening, particularly if you have legal and/or actuarial skills you can offer to the group.

One thing we are looking to borrow a set of IBM UK reports 1995-1999 for about two weeks. If you have a set please let us know (email Dave Reid - datreid@cwcom.net). If you have any other useful documents then please post a message on the Documents Thread on the Message Board or email Alan Murphy (murphy@enterprise.net).

It is not too late to write to OPAS - please do so to register your concern with them. If you are concerned about the legislative aspects then you should also write to your MP (if you do, please refer them to the website - it saves you having to write it all out again!). To find out who your MP is visit:

• http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/alcm.htm
• http://www.libdems.org.uk/
• http://www.labour.org.uk/
• http://www.conservative-party.org.uk/

DON'T FORGET TO DISCUSS this subject with your friends and acquaintances and to tell them about the website. There are still many IBM C-Planners who do not know what is happening to their C-Plan pension fund. So please pass the word and ENCOURAGE THEM TO REGISTER ON THE WEBSITE.

Many retirees do not have access to email, so consider becoming an "EMAIL BUDDY" - ask them if you can register their name, status and region details on their behalf. Unfortunately we do not yet have the resources to handle physical mail, but if you act on their behalf we can include them as part of the group. You can help us by passing the information on.

Finally - remember that if you change your email address to let us know via the Registration Form on the website. We do not want to lose contact with you!

Yours sincerely

Mike Eacott (Membership Secretary for the C-Planners' Group)

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