Overview
Total income for the year was £35.2 million, an increase of £1 million compared to the previous year. One-third of our income came from member subscriptions, and most of the balance was from our training courses, conferences, publishing activities and other commercial activity operated through our wholly owned subsidiary, CIPD Enterprises Limited. Over the course of the year we spent £31.3 million on providing our services to members and the wider management community.
We achieved each of our financial objectives for the year. Member benefits, services and related support costs were fully funded from member subscriptions and the CIPD has sufficient reserves to meet at least one year's operating costs. After deducting the pension liability, our general fund stood at £29.3 million at the end of the financial year. We also assign reserves to designated funds to cover specific priorities for future investment. Over the course of the year, we spent £2.1 million from these funds, mainly on IT developments, research and strategic priorities, leaving a total balance of £4.5 million at the end of June.
During the year, the Institute amended its investment strategy to exercise more control over asset allocation. Following advice from our investment adviser, we have now adopted a strategy of using specialist fund managers for each class of asset. The asset allocation will be tracked by our investment adviser, with rebalancing decisions taken quarterly. The net gain on our investments in the past year was £1.8 million and their total market value at the end of the year was £18.4 million.
Our pension scheme deficit, as determined by the actuary under the FRS 17 Regulations, was £2.1 million as at 30 June 2007. This is a fall of £3.7 million compared to a year ago, largely due to an increase in the discount rate used to value the liabilities and a special funding payment of £1.5 million made by the CIPD in September 2006. The payment was made as part of a funding plan agreed with the Scheme Trustees. The plan also provides for further payments of £60,000 a year up to 2024 and a final payment, if necessary, of £600,000 in 2025; future member benefits accruing on a Career Average Revalued Earnings basis; and limited price indexation for future pensions in payment restricted to 2.5%. In addition, we introduced a salary sacrifice scheme for pension contributions. Thanks to these steps, we've been able to keep our defined-benefit pension scheme open to both existing and new employees.