What was the change?

The change involved removing the guaranteed pension rate (GPR) on all included policies with retirement on or after 1 January 2020. The money previously set aside to ensure that we could provide pensions at guaranteed rates has then been freed up and used to increase current fund values.

The change also means that we could invest more in company shares and commercial property, which we would normally expect to produce higher long-term returns, further increasing policyholders retirement funds.

When policyholders retire they will use their retirement fund to buy a pension income, either from us or from another insurance company, at the rates available at that time.

Below are links to the information that was sent to included policyholder about the change in September/October 2009.

Follow this link for a copy of the letter sent. The letter gives a summary of the change and the process that was followed.

Follow this link to understand more about how a GPR pension policy works and explanations of important terms used in the information sent to included policyholders.

Follow this link to view the ‘Outlining our Scheme’ booklet. This aims to give a summary of the Scheme and answers some of the questions you may have.

Follow this link to view the ‘The Scheme in detail’ booklet. This explains the Scheme in detail and includes the legal Scheme and process and also contains the definitions of key terms used.

Follow this link to see an example of a personal illustration.

If you have any further questions, please contact us.