VSJ – December 2000 – Members’ News

The Director General Writes…..

It seems a very short time since I was writing last year’s Christmas message. We were all still looking forward to Y2k, in most cases with some trepidation. As it turned out Anthony Finkelstein was right and the meltdown didn’t happen. But in the meantime some of us made a lot of money, and who can say whether or not it was we that saved the day?

This year has seen a continuing expansion of the IAP’s core activities. There has also been some light relief, the Commons dinner and the outing to Bletchley Park, both much enjoyed by those who went. Even more enjoyable but definitely not to be taken lightly was the repeat of our highly successful Symposium at Trinity House. A mind-blowing line-up of top experts in quantum computing and the brain came from all over the World specially to speak to IAP members. Council Member Steve Cumbers is a very persuasive man!

Another leap forward was the introduction of our own monthly newsmagazine. After literally years of fruitless search for a suitable partner in the publishing field, the IAP has at last found success with Bearpark. Building on the combined strength of both organisations we plan to turn VSJ into the leading magazine in its sector. A combined readership of over 33000 gives IAP members a great opportunity to air their views and publicise their work. Keep those contributions coming.

A major upset for some people has been the introduction of the IR35 legislation. The IAP is not primarily an organisation for contractors, but we applaud what the PCG is trying to do on their behalf. We believe IR35 will be bad for our industry and bad for Britain. But we do not think it is going to go away. There has been too much abuse of the system in the past, not in IT where the nature of the work requires a highly mobile workforce, but elsewhere. In some other industries large numbers of people who in reality have secure permanent jobs, have been pretending to be contractors just to save the tax. These people have been robbing those of us who need the tax breaks to offset real commercial risks.

Some people on the margins may decide to give up the struggle and take permanent jobs. But “serious” contractors will, I believe, be strengthened by the IR35 shake out. Industry won’t be able to manage without contractors. So put your rates up to cover the tax; it won’t do your image any harm; 2001 could yet be a vintage year. My very best wishes to you all.

MIKE RYAN

Subscriptions for 2001

Once again, rates for Students and Retired members remain unchanged. Other rates are up by ten pounds, a modest increase in relation the continuing expansion of IAP member benefits. During 2000 we have introduced our monthly magazine and a group pension scheme with outstandingly low charges (see details elsewhere on this page). Places for members at the IAP2000 Symposium were reduced by £25 compared with last year. People may join the Institution for the prestige, but it also makes commercial sense. Tell your friends.

From 1st January 2001 the following rates will apply:

Fellow                                                    £98.00

Member                                                 £88.00

Associate Member                              £78.00

Graduate                                               £58.00

Student                                                  £40.00

Retired Member                                   £40.00

All these rates are reduced by £5.00 if you pay by direct debit. Over 80% of members already pay by this method. If you want to join them, contact the office for a form (see below for contact details). Remember that the IAP uses an agent, Miller Firstline (NLA), to collect money from members’ accounts and it is their name, not IAP, which will appear on your bank statement.

Your subscription is due each year on the anniversary of the day you joined the Institution and covers your membership for the following twelve months.

If you prefer to pay by cheque or credit card we will invoice you when payments are due. As we can only accept payment in sterling, credit cards are particularly convenient for members overseas. Just phone, fax or email the card details to us.

To qualify for the Retired Member rate you need to confirm that you are over 60, have been a member for at least ten years and are no longer available for work except on an occasional basis.

IAP Office contact details are:

Telephone:            020 8 567 2118

Fax:                        020 8 567 4379

Email:                    admin@iap.org.uk

Nominations for the Council of the IAP

The Institution is a democratic body governed by a Council elected by and from its members. Five members of the 15-strong Council retire in rotation each year. Nominations for the 2001 election must be received at the Institution Office by 31 January 2001. Contact the Office for further details, or an informal discussion, if you are interested in playing your part in the governance of the Institution.

Special Pension Deal for Members

The IAP has teamed up with Equitable Life to offer its members new Stakeholder pensions with very favourable charges that could boost their pension funds by thousands of pounds over the life of the pension. Equitable Life already offers amongst the lowest charges in the industry but the IAP has negotiated even better terms for its members, reducing the normal annual management charge from
0.9% to 0.75%. Equitable Life calculate that, assuming for example, a fund growth rate of 9% per annum and contributions starting at £350 monthly and increasing at 4.5% per annum, an IAP member’s final pension fund would be £15,000 or 3% greater over 30 years (£516,000 versus £501,000).

400times

The 400times e-zine was created earlier this year by David George, MIAP and Paul Wood, and is aimed directly at the AS/400 users/developers.

David and Paul have been involved with IBM’s Midrange platforms from the days of the System/38 back in the early 1980s. The main aim of 400times is to provide a platform for smaller companies and consultants to showcase their work and services to the AS/400 community.

Says David: ‘We saw a gap in featured product reviews in the trade press whereby only the larger IBM business partners and associated vendor’s products got an airing. These are fine products, agreed, but are sometimes out of the budget scope of many UK AS/400 shops. We saw a plethora of products being made available by developers like ourselves, who needed a hand to get their products to market. At the same time we have committed ourselves to give assistance with many day-to-day issues by the way of programming tips that will help small development teams get the most from their hardware and software.

By making this information available on the Web only, we have been able to remain free in every sense of the word. There is no charge or subscription and no mass advertising is allowed. We do have expenses to bear but we have kept them as low as possible by taking on as much work as possible ourselves. We invite commercial organisations to sponsor editions, but only to cover costs and allow for a small amount of non-Web based promotion.

The audience is growing far more than expected. We are very pleased with 400times, which we started really as a hobby. It has grown into a project that now obtains over a thousand new visits each month.’

400times can be viewed at www.400times.co.uk

[Email eo@iap.org.uk with items of news about you or your company.]

Comments are closed.