September 2007: It has been reported the Qataris could be forced to inject at least £1bn into the pension scheme to appease the trustees. However, people familiar with the matter said Delta Two and Sainsbury's pension fund trustees have not yet agreed how much will be put into the scheme.

Last week, the Sainsbury's board, led by Sir Philip Hampton, allowed Delta Two access to its books to continue work on its 600p a share indicative offer.

From an IFA July 2006 - Scotia Pension Scheme. The scheme is being wound up with a shortfall, and the proceeds used to purchase a non profit annuity from Legal & General, unless individual members transfer their funds to another provider by 14 October.

I have a client who will receive 22% of the pension he was entitled to if the scheme had been fully funded.

The scheme qualifies for the government’s Financial Assistance Scheme.

ScottishPower employees who are members of the UK final salary scheme will see their contribution rate hiked from 5% of pay to 7% over four years, at a rate of 0.5 percentage points per annum. This represents a total 40% increase.
The company said those employees who have been with it continuously since before its privatisation in 1990 would be "protected" from both the increases in contribution rate and pension age under

Comments: Nov 2006:Sea Containers has been warned that it must pay £143m to its two UK pension schemes if it wants to wind them up.

The UK pension regulator says it may issue the insolvent shipping company with a formal instruction to do this.

Sea Containers entered into the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy procedure last month, as it cannot repay bondholders.

The company says it wants to treat the pension schemes in line with its other creditors and is still in discussion with the UK regulator.

However, the regulator is worried that Sea Containers may try to avoid its legal responsibility to fund the schemes fully.

One scheme - known as the 1983 scheme - was closed to its existing members at the end of September. That may lead to its being wound up.

The company would also like to close the second scheme - the 1990 scheme - as well to stop its deficit getting any bigger.

Together, they have about 1,300 members.

"I cannot say what will or will not be offered, but they will be treated as part of the insolvency process," said a Sea Containers spokeswoman.

The pension regulator has told Sea Containers that if its current negotiations are not satisfactory, it will issue the firm with a formal Financial Support Direction (FSD), which would compel it to follow the regulator's advice.

June 2007: The regulator said it intended to issue its first ever Financial Support Direction (FSD) to require Sea Containers , which operates the GNER rail franchise, to put a reported 91 million pounds into two schemes.

Comments: October 2007: Shell has suspended payments into its £12 billion staff pension fund in the UK after seeing it move nearly £3 billion into surplus over the past year. The decision makes the oil and gas giant the first British firm to decide on a ‘pension holiday’ since it took one five years ago.

"Closure of the defined benefit scheme to existing members affects only future contributions. It does not change the benefits that have already been earned through membership of the scheme, nor does it affect members who have left the company or have retired," it said in a statement.

Smiths News said its net pension deficit as of Sept. 1, 2006 would have been 17 million pounds ($32.95 million) after taking into account a 25-million-pound one-off payment and considering deferred tax.

Pensions likely at 31/03/02 87% MFR claimed ***

*** My last pension forecast (dated 06/04/2000) estimated a pension of £19,992.00 pa – the latest figures received from the trustees show that I may now end up getting £101,660.00 to buy my pension with – I am sure that you know better than I what that represents in pension terms.

Since April 2001 a combination of Actuaries, Administrators, Solicitors, Investment Managers, Bankers, Auditors and Custodians have taken more than £183,000.00 in costs and expenses from the fund (virtually 11.5% of the current fund)

Initially (December 2002) it was estimated that I would get £118,660.00, as if that were not bad enough, in July 2002 that was revised to become £108,726.00 (down over 8% and going down at over £1,241 per month) with the figure now (November 2003) standing at £101,660.00 (down a further 6.5% - it is going down by over £1766 per month now – more than I earn – this with a rising stockmarket and savers getting 3.5% !)