Purpose

The purpose of the APPA is to provide a channel through which pensioners, widows and widowers of the AXA Provincial section of The AXA UK Group Pension Scheme can keep in touch with each other and the company. The Association is primarily concerned with the welfare of pensioners, including the arrangement of local events at which former colleagues can get together. The stated objective of APPA is to maintain contact with and between the members and to look after and foster their interests.

Funding

APPA is funded by the AXA Group Pensioners' Federation, which in turn is funded by an annual budget from AXA UK Ltd. Funding is based on the number of "active" members in the Association i.e. those who have indicated that they wish to maintain some sort of contact with other members.

Organisation

APPA is organised into six geographical regions. Each region is looked after by a Regional Representative, and the six Regional Representatives form the committee responsible for the organisation and running of APPA.

Within each region there are Pensioner Contacts who, as the name implies, maintain contact by an occasional visit or telephone call with those members who have requested that somebody from APPA keeps in touch with them.

Details of the regional structure, the Regional Representatives and Pensioner Contacts within each region appear elsewhere on this website.

APPA is not involved in the running or administration of the AXA Group Pension Fund and thus has no input concerning benefits and payments.

The Pod

This is the magazine of the Federation, published twice a year and sent to all pensioners. Within it, there is a section devoted to AXA Provincial as well as to each of the other four associations who make up the Federation. If you would like to contribute an article, photo or anything else, please contact your local Pensioner Contact.

Insurance for members

The Federation has arranged special terms for insurance for pensioners. To access these, it is important to call the relevant dedicated numbers, which appear regularly in the supplement to The Pod. These numbers, for Motor Household and Travel Insurance, are:

Existing policies: 0870 900 1561
New Business 0870 333 2510
Claims 0800 246 826

It is important that members use these specific numbers, manned by dedicated staff, as staff in other parts of the AXA Group will not be aware of the special pensioners' terms.

Database

APPA maintains a database, based on information provided by members in response to a questionnaire which is sent to all new pensioners. This forms the basis upon which pensioners are notified of and invited to events and get-togethers.

Queries

If there are any matters on which pensioners want information or clarification, the initial point of contact should be the Regional Representative.

Pensioner Contacts - Volunteers

Our Pensioner Contact Scheme flourishes, but only because of the dedication of members who have volunteered to undertake the role of maintaining regular contact by phone or a visit to a small panel of pensioners who value the service. Such pensioners tend to fall into the category of the more elderly and less active and quite a few live alone. Inevitably, our existing Pensioner Contact volunteers get older themselves and reach a point where they feel they ought to step down. This means, of course, that we need new volunteers to take over.

Additionally, there are parts of the country where we haven't got full Pensioner Contact cover. So, if you feel that you could help the Association by becoming a Pensioner Contact, either now or at some time in the future, please contact the Secretary.

Feedback

Your committee has already put in place various services and support for pensioners, based on what members have told us they would like. However, it is more than likely that there are things we have missed, or that you feel we haven't got quite right - but we won't know about these unless you tell us. For this reason, feedback (preferably via your Regional Representative) on any aspect of APPA is always welcome.