Exercises affecting current pensioners
The Company will be carrying out a one-off member option exercise in the Scheme, available to eligible pensioners, called a Pension Increase Exchange (PIE) option. If you are eligible for this option, you can expect to receive a letter with more details in early 2025.
This option will give eligible pensioners in the Scheme the flexibility to reshape their pension by taking a larger pension now in exchange for opting out of future pension increases, which might better suit their lifestyle needs, whilst reducing the long-term cost and risk of running the Scheme. Eligible pensioners are generally those with a pension higher than £500 per year in respect of service before 6 April 1997 (excluding Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP)).
The Company is working closely with the Trustee in providing this one-off option. The Trustee has agreed to make this option available to eligible pensioners as the additional flexibility may be in some members’ interests, especially as this will be supported with independent financial advice (or guidance for overseas members) paid for by the Company.
The Company will contact current Scheme Pensioners who are eligible for this option in early 2025 with full details. Scheme Pensioners who are not eligible will not be contacted.
The Trustee has also asked XPS, as the Scheme Administrator, to review certain historic data we hold for members and the benefits which have been paid, in order to ensure that they are being paid in accordance with the Rules that govern the Scheme (a benefit audit). Some pensioners will receive a letter about the impact on their Scheme benefits of this review.
The Trustee appreciates that these exercises may have resulted in some pensioners receiving a number of additional communications this year. There will be pensioners who are not eligible for the PIE option and are unaffected by the benefit audit who will have received the usual annual pension increase letter. We wanted to give some context to these exercises.