LONDON, 22 June 2007 – Philip Hammond MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, presented Aon Consulting’s Pension & Investment Journalist of the Year Awards last evening at the Houses of Parliament.

He told a packed audience that the media has a major role to play in restoring faith in pensions among employers and individuals. He said: “We must stop the damaging effect of the constant media reminders of pension failures past, before we can create a platform for pension successes future.  We must do this not by stopping the media, but by addressing the causes.”

Mr Hammond also highlighted the need for employers to be able to arrange pension schemes which represent value for both them and their employees.  He said: "If it costs an employer £100 to provide a pension benefit (allowing properly for the risks being taken on) but the employee values it at only £80; then this is unsustainable.  If we can get to a position where it costs the employer £100 to provide a benefit but the employee values it so highly that he is prepared to give up £110 of salary for it, then employers will be keen to provide pensions.  This ought to be possible, at least for large employers, who have a much greater ability to manage risk than an individual."

In its 24^th year, the Aon Consulting Awards are unique in their recognition of the essential role the UK media plays in shaping the attitudes of individuals, employers and regulators towards providing enough funds for people’s retirement.

This year’s winners are:

• Richard Scott (BBC News) impressed the judges most in the CONSUMER PENSION AND INVESTMENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR category with his ability to explain complex issues to a broad audience and encourage them to take action;
• Anthony Hilton (Evening Standard) won the BUSINESS PENSION & INVESTMENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR award for thought-provoking analysis of contemporary issues
• Charlotte Wolff (Equal Opportunities Review) took home the trophy in the TECHNICAL PENSION & INVESTMENT JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR category for original and readable articles
• Thomas Escritt (European Pensions News) secured top marks as best NEWCOMER TO PENSION & INVESTMENT JOURNALISM, for his remarkably mature and knowledgeable approach
• Pádraig Floyd (Pensions Management) polled the most votes from fellow journalists to win the PEOPLE’S CHOICE award and illustrate his standing during a radical period for the industry.

Aon Consulting is one of the UK's leading firm of actuaries, employee benefit and human resources consultants. The awards recognise the work of journalists who provide technical or analytical comment for professionals working in these areas, including pensions specialists, fund managers and independent advisers.

The business, consumer and technical award winners each received a cheque for £1,300.  Winners of the People’s Choice and Newcomer award categories were presented with a £1,000 cash prize each. All winners were also presented with permanent mementoes.

Presentations were also made to runners-ups in each of the judged categories. These comprised: Sharlene Goff (Financial Times) and Faith Archer (Daily Telegraph) in the CONSUMER CATEGORY; Anthony Harrington (Financial Director) and Mike Foster (Financial News) in the BUSINESS CATEGORY; John Chapman (Money Management) and Ceri Jones (Freelancer) in the TECHNICAL CATEGORY. Each received a prize of £500.

Donald Duval, chief actuary at Aon Consulting, said: “This is the twenty fourth consecutive year that Aon Consulting has sponsored the Pension & Investment Journalist of the Year Awards. We are delighted that a record number of journalists entered the Awards – well over 70 entries this year.  Journalists play a vital role at encouraging everyone to take appropriate action to ensure they make the most of the longer and healthier lives being enjoyed.

“This last year has been a busy year for financial journalists, who have had to keep up with accelerating pace and change in the industry. We have seen increasing numbers of employers prepared to close defined benefit schemes to future accrual; liability driven investment and growth assets such as hedge funds growing in popularity; pensions regulations relaxed to encourage greater saving from A-Day; and many of the largest defined benefit schemes returned to surplus. Next year’s awards promise to shine a light on another eventful year for the industry.”

Notes to editors:

About Aon Consulting

Aon Consulting is a leading human capital consultancy, helping organisations of every size to attract and keep the employees they need. We advise on all aspects of employment, including health-related insurance and risk; employee compensation and pensions; human resource strategy planning; job design and change management; and staff assessment and legal issues. Aon Consulting is a division of Aon, one of the UK’s largest insurance brokers and providers of risk management services and a major force in reinsurance and the UK human capital consulting market.  Aon Consulting Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

About Aon

Aon Corporation is a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, human capital and management consulting, and specialty insurance underwriting.  There are 43,000 employees working in Aon’s 500 offices in more than 120 countries.  Backed by broad resources, industry knowledge and technical expertise, Aon professionals help a wide range of clients develop effective risk management and workforce productivity solutions.

This press release contains certain statements related to future results, or states our intentions, beliefs and expectations or predictions for the future which are forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from either historical or anticipated results depending on a variety of factors. Potential factors that could impact results include: general economic conditions in different countries in which we do business around the world, changes in global equity and fixed income markets that could affect the return on invested assets, fluctuations in exchange and interest rates that could influence revenue and expense, rating agency actions that could affect our ability to borrow funds, funding of our various pension plans, changes in the competitive environment, our ability to implement restructuring initiatives and other initiatives intended to yield cost savings, our ability to execute the stock repurchase program, our ability to obtain regulatory or legislative changes to permit continuous sales of our supplemental Medicare health product, changes in commercial property and casualty markets and commercial premium rates that could impact revenues, changes in revenues and earnings due to the elimination of contingent commissions, other uncertainties surrounding a new compensation model, the impact of investigations brought by state attorneys general, state insurance regulators, federal prosecutors, and federal regulators, the impact of class actions and individual lawsuits including client class actions, securities class actions, derivative actions, ERISA class actions, the impact of the analysis of practices relating to stock options, the cost of resolution of other contingent liabilities and loss contingencies, and the difference in ultimate paid claims in our underwriting companies from actuarial estimates.  Further information concerning the Company and its business, including factors that potentially could materially affect the Company’s financial results, is contained in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Aon Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities only

Aon Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities only.