Shell's pension scheme has a healthy surplus
|
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has temporarily suspended payments to its pension scheme.
The "pension holiday" is a sign the fund - one of the biggest UK pension schemes - has a healthy surplus.
Pension breaks were popular in the 1990s when schemes appeared to be well-funded, but the 2001 stock market crash left many funds in the red.
Regulatory changes have now made it more difficult to take pension holidays unless there is a substantial surplus.
Surplus
A Shell spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that the Shell UK pension fund has agreed to a temporary reduction in company contributions to zero. The fund remains in a very strong position and is heavily in surplus."
 |
COMPANY PENSION FACTS
The largest 200 companies have a collective surplus of £5bn, according to Aon
Improved stock market performance and increased company contributions helped close deficits.
More than two-thirds of final salary pension schemes are now closed to new members
|
The company did not say how much its main pension fund is in the black, but Shell has one most generously-funded schemes in the UK, into which it put £67m last year.
Company pension scheme balances have been improving after making headline news in the first part of the decade.
Stephen Yeo, a partner at the pensions consultancy Watson Wyatt, said more companies could follow Shell's lead.
Home
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~10~RS~)
BBC NEWS CHANNEL
News services
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
Bookmark with:
What are these?