The personal and societal effects of the coronavirus pandemic have led to difficult and worrying times for everyone. As a country we have largely put a pause on parts of our lives and have had to adapt under the lockdown.
We have adapted our working styles; working remotely and relying on technology, such as video conferencing, to stay in touch with each other and our clients. This has enabled us to continue engaging with our clients and wider government to deal with the issues that COVID-19 is causing.
Supporting our clients
We are committed to supporting our clients through these difficult times. We continue to work on day-to-day projects and adapt to changing priorities, including new and specific COVID 19 workstreams. Some examples of COVID related projects our actuaries have supported are:
- collaborating with other government departments to produce a paper on initial estimates of excess deaths from COVID-19 for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies
- working with the Department for Education, we produced analysis to quantify the expected costs in relation to UK and overseas travel claims from academies due to COVID-19 which fall under the risk protection arrangement
- undertaking analysis, planning and discussions of the new life assurance scheme for frontline NHS staff and social care workers in England
- playing a central role in the development of the Trade Credit Insurance schemes backed by £10 billion of government guarantees. This reinsurance scheme will help businesses continue to operate, protecting jobs and supply chains.
Supporting each other
This new way of life and working has also brought its own challenges for staff. Not least of these have been the issues of navigating work and home commitments, while retaining a sense of cohesion and inclusivity. To this end, GAD has:
- embraced communications technology; supporting all staff to become used to or even adept at video calls, e-learning and online events
- ensured continued connections by creating a wide programme of non-work activities for the recent Mental Health Awareness Week
- encouraged flexible working so parents and carers can make the lockdown work for them and their responsibilities. GAD staff, including the Government Actuary Martin Clarke (centre) share selfies of working from home. Read about how one of GAD's actuaries has balanced work and family life, by being a home educator in the mornings and an actuary in the afternoon.
Supporting the government's response
People from GAD are currently seconded to the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Ministry of Justice. They are lending their analytical expertise to a variety of COVID related projects, supporting policy decision making which is often at the heart of the government's COVID response.
Junior Trainee Actuary Comfort Ajoku is one of two GAD staff who have volunteered to help the NHS test and trace service by joining the DHSC data and analytics team. This team is responsible for maintaining a single source for data across the test and trace programme and providing system-level modelling and analysis.
Reflecting on the project, Comfort said: "The skills of actuaries complement the work being carried out in the test and trace team. I'm really excited to be part of this project and to be able to contribute to its success."
Supporting the actuarial profession
GAD actuaries are also among more than 500 volunteers supporting the actuarial profession with their own COVID-19 response. This has been set up by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and is called the IFoA COVID-19 Action Taskforce (ICAT). It brings together volunteer actuaries from the profession's 30,000-plus worldwide membership, seeking to help the response to COVID-19 through specialised research and resource building.
Senior Trainee Actuary Andreas Chatzineofytou is on an ICAT group looking at the possible investment impact of COVID-19 for pension funds and defined benefit schemes. He is part of a team of 6 people who will look at the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on this area.
Commenting on the ICAT project, Andreas said: "I volunteered because I want to help resolve some of the issues arising from COVID-19. I found ICAT to be the best way for me to do that, since I'll be able to use any experience and insights from my background in pensions and investments.
New normal
As deaths continue to reduce and the lockdown is gradually eased, it is expected that a 'new normal' will start to emerge. For a while at least, any changes to current restrictions will need to be balanced against the risk of a second wave of infections.
Preparing for and implementing this 'new normal' brings its own challenges to policy makers as well as opportunities to make our society better.
At each step of the process GAD will continue to offer our support and expert risk analysis skills. We will continue doing what we can to help our clients and wider government navigate these challenges.
