U.K. News Firm Does Hard Pension Freeze
November 9, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Faced with a pension funding deficit of 275 million pounds on a plan already frozen for new employees, Trinity Mirror, a U.K. newspaper publisher, will close its final salary plan altogether.
A Reuters news report said the news company decided to shutter the defined benefit plan completely in light of the continuing volatility in the financial markets, the complexity of new pension rules and rising life expectancies of its employees.
“The cost of final salary pension provision continues to increase and the Group can no longer afford to provide these benefits,” Trinity Mirror said in a news release on its Web site.
The company said the 3,000 active members of the final salary plan will be offered the opportunity to join the company’s defined contribution plan after a two-month consultation period.
“Closing these schemes to future accrual would help limit the increase in liabilities in the defined benefit pension schemes and help the group to fulfill its commitment to eliminate the current deficit,” the company said in the Web statement.