Did you know that around 5 years ago, the IFoA (Derek Cribb) went to the UK Government and claimed there was a shortage of actuaries in the UK and that not even in the single EU market with access to 27 countries' actuaries could they recruit enough to deal with this alleged 'shortage'? They wanted immigration restrictions eased so they could go outside the EU to find actuaries for UK jobs. For a year they were granted this until some people realised what had taken place and protested to the UK Govt. The Govt then looked at this matter again, this time considering the opposite viewpoint. The IFoA didn't even respond to this review this time round (must wonder why) and the Govt removed actuaires from the shortage occupation list. The IFoA had no consultation with members nor did they present any evidence to members to substantiate this alleged shortage.
At the same time this profession was holding many, many people back from becoming qualified due to incredibly low pass rates in subjects like CA3. Surely the right thing to do would have been to sort out these low pass rates on CA3. Offer training, explain better what's needed to pass, show examples of scripts passed and scripts failed, define jargon etc. etc. Also if pass rates were not going to improve they could have held CA3 exam sittings far more often and at cheaper prices to help people get through it quicker compared to the once per 6 month situation at the moment. However as you can see from all our discussions here, the requests made to them from the student consultative forum and others that there appears little interest in improving pass rates to get more people qualifying in the UK. I encourage you to think why this is the case.
Adding to this scenario, in 2011 the IFoA signed up to the mutual recognition with the AAE, allowing actuaries qualified on the continent to come to the UK and get FIA with just one year's work experience. No CA3 required. In fact many get qualified on the continent without completing a single actuary exam in English & have not passed any exams in UK specific insurance contexts.
So Tarbuck, please don't patronise us by claiming we are just annoyed at not passing CA3. In the meantime all this has gone on by the IFoA to get others qualified without needing CA3, even wanting to bring people from outside the EU to take up qualified jobs while many in this country are stuck on this stupid CA3 exam where they've done nothing to improve pass rates.
Last edited by a moderator: Jan 31, 2017