In a paper submitted to the Institute in January 1961 (J.I.A. 87, 145), reference was made to the problems of collecting friendly societies, particularly in the light of continuing post-war inflation. This paper sets out to examine the effect of legislation since that time and the discussion is extended to include all friendly societies registered under the 1896 Act. Paragraphs 2–6 set out the background against which actuarial problems have arisen and the paper then considers possible approaches which may have a more general application.