On the go: Canadian asset manager Brookfield has said that it will retain repair business HomeServe’s current defined benefit pensions arrangements, following the announced agreement of a £4bn takeover of the company.
HomeServe’s DB scheme sits in the multi-employer £710mn Water Companies Pension Scheme. As of the section’s last actuarial valuation at March 31 2020, it was 88 per cent funded, with a deficit of £5.2mn.
A snapshot of the HomeServe scheme assets as of March 31 2021 revealed a small surplus of £0.9mn.
The scheme received deficit repair contributions of £2.16mn in 2021, and is scheduled to receive monthly contributions of £181,400 from April 2021 until August 31 2022, increasing each year in line with the retail price index.
The plan is closed to new entrants and is open to future accrual for a small number of staff.
Brookfield said that while it “does not intend to change the current arrangements for the accrual of benefits for existing members”, it does not plan to reopen the DB scheme to new entrants.
It added that it intended to keep employer contributions to the scheme in line with the current schedule.
In April, Work and Pensions Committee chair Stephen Timms challenged the Water Companies scheme over the transfer of Bristol Water section’s surplus to its sponsor.
The scheme is being wound up. Timms asked for an explanation over plans to transfer an estimated surplus of £12.1mn to the sponsor after he was contacted by concerned scheme members.
In May, Water Companies Pension Scheme chair David Sankey wrote to Timms assuring him that the trustee had fulfilled its duties and that the surplus transfer was appropriate.
