Survey: FTSE 350 DB Pension Scheme Survey 2018

This report focuses on the recently published disclosures of 102 companies in the FTSE 350 with defined benefit (DB) pension liabilities reporting at 31 December 2017 (comprising around 70 per cent of all FTSE 350 DB pension obligations).

Key findings

• Around 35 per cent of the FTSE 350 have a pensions surplus in their accounts.
• Most companies (80 per cent) could clear their deficits with payments equivalent to less than two years’ dividends. However, in 2017, companies paying contributions into their pension schemes paid out 25 times as much in dividends as they paid to reduce pension deficits.
• There were an additional £20 billion of benefit payments in 2017 compared with 2016, a 45 per cent increase, due to members taking advantage of pension flexibilities.
• 20 per cent of the companies left open to further accrual of DB pensions at the beginning of the year chose to close in 2017.

This latest report from Willis Towers Watson considers current issues for pension schemes, how these might impact company accounts and how companies are managing their pensions risk. It also includes an analysis of key trends.

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