About our services
Our expert technical skills, high professional standards and industry sector knowledge enable effective decision making and policy development.
Introduction
We provide actuarial solutions on a non-profit basis for the government and wider public sector, with expertise in a wide range of specialisms. This includes risk analysis, modelling, quality assurance and advice about a large and complex range of client projects. We use data insights to identify trends and share insights.
A significant proportion of our work is on aspects of public service pension schemes. These affect 15 million working and retired people including police, firefighters, doctors, nurses, teachers and civil servants.
GAD also works with government and public sector clients in the overall areas of investment and insurance, examining credit risk, funding and risk transfer.
Our skills further support government departments and stakeholder initiatives. Examples of these include reports on Great Britain’s National Insurance fund and on the State Pension age. Other project examples include supporting climate risk analysis, estimating the size of future clinical negligence claims, advising on alternatives to commercial insurance for schools and providing expertise for disaster risk finance.
Working with GAD
Our services are charged on a cost-recovery basis (only our costs are considered). To find out more about the work we do, please see our collection of case studies.
It’s easy to work with GAD. If you are interested in using our services, please get in touch. Our guidance on procuring our services gives more information.
Our latest annual client feedback survey revealed that 98% of respondents awarded GAD 4 or more stars for being highly valued.
Please contact enquiries@gad.gov.uk if you require further information or see the .
Our specialisms range from climate risk analysis to social security and are summarised in .
Climate risk analysis
Climate change is a key source of future uncertainty. We work to ensure that material climate risks are accounted for, where relevant, in all our actuarial work. We provide specialist analysis and advice to support departments with a wide range of climate challenges, such as decarbonising the school estate.
This includes modelling financial risks associated with climate change impacts, quality assuring climate models, and providing robust analysis for climate mitigation and adaption initiatives. We support the public sector with climate disclosure reporting, including alignment with Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
Data insights
GAD’s expertise with advanced modelling and analysis techniques enables us to support clients with data-driven decision making and to ensure that their own modelling is fit for purpose.
Data insights are central to our work. We use modern programming tools such as Python and R to implement efficient data processes. We then apply a range of advanced analytical techniques such as machine learning algorithms and spatial analysis. Discover how we used random forests to apply data science techniques to analyse student loans.
Together with the use of powerful visualisations and interactive dashboards, we identify trends and discover insights to inform strategic decision making. Take a look at our dashboard examples covering Analysis of Experience and pension valuation. Our gender pensions gap report uses visualisations to draw out key insights.
Insurance and risk transfer
The public sector takes on a wide range of risks that can be considered in a similar way to an insurance arrangement. This includes risks taken on through government’s role as an insurer of last resort, such as terrorism, as well as inherent risks, such as clinical negligence.
Government also has a role in supporting the private sector insurance industry to find solutions to insurance needs that cannot be solved by them alone, such as flood cover. Internationally, the UK government has also committed to supporting countries to better manage disaster risk.
It is important that these risks are well understood and managed to give best value for the public purse. GAD occupies a unique position, as an actuarial department within government, to support public sector organisations in addressing these challenges. We combine private sector insurance expertise with public sector experience.
Every project is unique, but most of GAD’s insurance offering can be considered across 3 core actuarial activities:
- provisioning – also known as reserving, this involves estimating the cost of claims that will arise from commitments which have already been made
- pricing – forecasting the cost of future commitments which are yet to be made, and offering advice on how changing the basis of cover or method of intervention may affect costs
- capital – a holistic assessment of the wider risks involved in offering government support, and the range of financial results that could be achieved
GAD plays a key role supporting government’s largest insurance type arrangements, also known as risk pools, such as the risk protection arrangement for schools.
We also have extensive experience of considering new or unusual risks, for which there is little or no historical data to support traditional actuarial approaches, such as liabilities relating to nuclear energy.
Investment, funding and credit risk
GAD’s services help organisations explore ways to fund their long-term financial obligations. We analyse how future expenditure may change and explore funding strategies that can mitigate risk.
We also assess the operational aspects of investments and the policy and legislative implications. We provide advice on financial risks to UK government from credit support schemes and other credit related contingent liabilities.
Our recent work has focused on areas such as pensions, nuclear decommissioning, social security, and charitable investments.
Modelling and quality assurance
GAD has expertise in designing, building, and reviewing models to meet our clients’ needs. Government departments and public sector bodies rely on models for day-to-day activities including estimating costs, understanding risk, testing policy options, and making business critical decisions.
We help clients to ensure the models they use are robust and can be relied upon through our objective review and quality assurance of models. Quality assurance is at the heart of our organisation, demonstrated through our accreditation under the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries’ Quality Assurance Scheme.
We follow the latest Aqua Book guidance on quality assurance but can also tailor our reviews to meet our clients’ internal quality assurance frameworks. Our reviews help to verify that model calculations are working correctly, and that models and their outputs are robust, reasonable, and are used appropriately. We validate that data, assumptions, and modelling methodologies are fit for purpose. We can provide assurance that the limitations and uncertainty of your model outputs are adequately communicated.
For example, read about our quality assurance analysis of Ofgem’s methodology.
We also provide support throughout the model development lifecycle, from specifying, designing and building models, through to implementing models and communicating results. We are experts in modelling on all modern platforms, including R, Python, and Excel. We can build models from scratch, or we can work with our clients to improve their models.
For example, read about the model we designed and built to help members of the public service pension schemes understand the impact of changes to schemes on their pension benefits.
Pensions
GAD provides specialist actuarial analysis and pension insights to government departments and public bodies, helping to inform and shape policy development. We also provide pensions administration support.
Funded pension schemes
At GAD, we specialise in providing professional advice for funded occupational pension schemes (those with asset-backed liabilities) within the wider public sector. Our team offers comprehensive consultancy services to scheme trustees, as well as advice to sponsors, and strategic reviews of benefits and investments.
Pensions administration support
Administrators of public service pension schemes need to deliver major projects alongside day-to-day services. We bring together our in-depth understanding of pensions with hands-on pensions administration experience to enable the successful implementation of change.
This includes help with procurement of administration platform and provider, quality assurance, data quality, and pensions dashboards.
Pensions policy, regulation and supervision
Our specialist knowledge of pensions, combined with our extensive experience of advising government departments and public bodies, puts us in a unique position to provide expert technical guidance and analysis on pensions issues.
We carefully consider the wider policy landscape and offer informed insights, tailored to meet the needs of individuals.
Public service pension schemes
We deliver actuarial advice and pensions consultancy services to support public service pension schemes that provide benefits to around 15 million people in the UK.
GAD provides actuarial analysis and specialist pension insights to government departments and public bodies, helping to inform and shape policy development. Read our case study about the pension scheme valuations.
Staff transfers
We advise public sector bodies where staff are set to have their pension arrangements changed.
Our main services include broad comparability assessments and advice on any potential shortfall arising from the bulk transfer. We help with staff communications, and we liaise with pensions administrators and lawyers. Guidance is available on our staff transfers webpage.
Read about how our support for a bulk transfer exercise realised a significant saving for the public purse.
Social security
GAD is responsible for providing Parliament with reports on the financial status of the National Insurance Fund. This includes an annual report that outlines the potential effects of benefit uprating and contribution re-rating. We also produce a more in-depth report every 5 years that forecasts the Fund’s financial long-term position.
Furthermore, we provide advice to social security organisations in other countries and Crown Dependencies such as Jersey and the Isle of Man. You can also read about our work on the National Insurance Fund.