UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION (UK) PENSION SCHEME YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
Contributions in respect of benefit augmentations requested by an employer and approved by the Trustee remain payable. No such contributions were requested in 2024.
Equalisation of Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) liabilities
In October 2018, the High Court determined that benefits provided to members who had contracted out of the state second pension must be recalculated to reflect the equalisation of state pension ages between May 1990 and April 1997 between men and women. In November 2020, a further ruling by the High Court determined that transfers out of a scheme in respect of members who had contracted out of the state second pension must also be recalculated to reflect the equalisation of state pension ages between May 1990 and April 1997 between men and women. The Trustee is continuing to review, with its advisers, the implications of this ruling on the Scheme. As soon as this review is finalised and any liability quantified, a communication will be issued to affected members.
Virgin Media case
In June 2023, the High Court handed down a decision in the Virgin Media Ltd versus NTL Pension Trustees II Ltd case, which considered the implications of section 37 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, which required that the rules of a salary-related contracted-out pension scheme cannot be altered, in relation to post April 1997 service, unless the actuary confirmed that the scheme would continue to satisfy the statutory standards. The High Court found that, where the required actuarial confirmation was not supplied, the effect of section 37 was to render the relevant amendment to any contracted-out right automatically void. It also held that references in the legislation included both past and future service rights and that the requirement for actuarial confirmation applied to all amendments to the rules of a contracted-out scheme. This decision was appealed to the Court of Appeal, and, in July 2024, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court. The Trustee is monitoring the position and will consider the possible implications, if any, for the Scheme of the above with its advisers and what steps, if any, it wishes to take. It is not practicable, at present, to estimate the financial effect on the Scheme, if any, of the uncertainties in relation to the amount or timing of any outflow of resources, or the possibility of reimbursement of resources. In June 2025, the Government announced that they will introduce legislation to give affected pension schemes the ability to retrospectively obtain written actuarial confirmation that historic benefit changes met the necessary standards. The Government will provide further details on this in due course.
Investments
The Trustee has produced a Statement of Investment Principles dated 22 August 2023, as required by Section 35 of the Pensions Act 1995 and a copy is appended to this annual report and financial statements.
All Scheme investments are held within The CIF except for Asset Backed Funding arrangements, Insurance policies relating to Sutrak section members as detailed below and Additional AVCs . The day to day management and the safe custody of the Scheme's investments has been delegated by the Trustee to UTC Pension Trust Limited, 3 of this report. The CIF Administrator oversees the CIF on behalf of participating pension plans of RTX Corporation in the United Kingdom. The Statement of Investment Principles agreed by the Trustee of the Scheme determines the parameters within which the Administrator of the CIF must act in respect of the Scheme. n Investment Implementation Policy. The latest Investment Implementation Policy agreed between the Scheme and the CIF Administrator is dated 13 November 2024 and a copy is available on request.
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