Page 104 - Pobl Annual Report FY25

102 Annual Report 2025
Notes to the Financial Statements
for the year ended 31 March 2025
Virgin Media case - The Association is aware of the June 2023 High Court judgement in the case of Virgin Media vs
NTL Pension Trustees II Limited, and that in July 2024 the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal brought by Virgin
Media against aspects of the High Court's decision. This judgement may have significant implications for defined
benefit schemes that were “contracted out” between April 1997 and April 2016. The Association understands that
this will be affected by questions which, in February and March 2025, were put to the High Court in the case of
Verity Trustees Limited v Wood and others, with the outcome expected later in 2025. At this point intime it is
unclear whether there could be an impact for the Association's schemes and therefore a sufficiently reliable
estimate of any effect on the obligation cannot be made. Thus the defined benefit obligation for scheme has been
calculated on the basis of the pension benefits currently being administered.
Swansea Pension Fund
The Swansea pension fund is a local government pension scheme.
The Actuarial Funding valuation of scheme assets and the present value of the defined benefit obligation for
Swansea Pension Fund has an effective valuation date of 31 March 2022. This valuation has shown a surplus of
£1.706m. The liability figures from this valuation were rolled forward for accounting year-ends from the following
31 March 2024.
The present value of the defined benefit obligation and the related current service cost and past service cost were
measured using the projected unit credit method.
The scheme had a net pension asset at the accounting date. As the scheme is closed to new entrants and there
is a limited period over which the employer may receive an economic benefit from payment of reduced
contributions to the fund, it was determined that the pension asset should be restricted. This restriction appears in
Other Comprehensive income.
Virgin Media case - Virgin Media Ltd vs NTL Trustees On 25 July 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal
in the case of Virgin Media Limited v NTL Pension Trustees II Limited and others. The appeal was brought by
Virgin Media Ltd against aspects of the High Court’s ruling handed down in June 2023 relating to the validity of
certain historical pension changes due to the lack of actuarial confirmation required by law. The Court of Appeal
upheld the High Court’s ruling. The ruling may have implications for other UK defined benefit plans. It is
understood this would apply to the LGPS and HM Treasury is currently assessing the implications for all public
service pension schemes. No further information is available at this stage.
Dyfed Pension Fund
The Company was an admitted member of the Dyfed Local Government Pension Fund (“the fund”) until the
cessation date of the 2nd April 2023, therefore only 2023-24 figures are reported.
Growth Plan
The company participates in the scheme, a multi-employer scheme which provides benefits to some 521 non-
associated participating employers. The scheme is a defined benefit scheme in the UK. It is not possible for the
company to obtain sufficient information to enable it to account for the scheme as a defined benefit scheme.
Therefore it accounts for the scheme as a defined contribution scheme.
A full actuarial valuation for the scheme was carried out at 30 September 2023. This valuation showed assets of
£514.9m, liabilities of £531.0m and a deficit of £16.1m. To eliminate this funding shortfall, the Trustee has asked
the participating employers to pay additional contributions to the scheme.