We wrote to certain members in May to explain that:

• we need to address a historical inequality arising from legislation, relating to some Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) benefits in the Plan; and that to do so
• we proposed to convert all GMPs into a different form of pension – ensuring that there was no reduction to the current amount or expected value of affected members’ pensions.

The need to address this historical inequality follows a High Court ruling which affects the vast majority of pension schemes across the UK including the Plan and confirms that trustees should adjust pension scheme benefits because of the inequality caused by legislation. You can read more about this in your original letter and in the Questions and Answers page of the Plan website at https://hpbrp.com/gmp-faqs.

Not all members are affected by the historical inequality and our proposal to address this, so it may be that the information below isn’t relevant to you. If you’ve received a letter from us, it explains how you may be affected individually.

Also, we’re carrying out this exercise in stages, so some members may receive communications at different times.

We consulted affected members about our proposed changes, giving them the opportunity to ask questions and provide any feedback during the consultation period. This consultation period ended on 21 July 2024, and we would like to thank those who took the time to ask questions or provide feedback.

Having carefully considered all of the feedback we received during the consultation, we can confirm we are proceeding with our proposal as described in the letter we sent to you in May. We believe this is an appropriate way to fulfil the High Court ruling. Please refer to this letter for more details along with the Questions and Answers page in the Plan website at https://hpbrp.com/gmp-faqs.

Remember: your Plan pension in payment will not be reduced as a result of simplifying it, nor will the overall actuarial (or expected) total value of your benefits.

What happens next

The actuaries and administrators of the Plan will work through the calculations by grouping affected members into segments, and working on each segment in turn. When the calculations for your particular segment have been completed, we will send you a statement confirming how your pension is affected.

Given the complexity of the calculations, and the number of members affected, the whole project will take time to complete. This means that it may be some time before you receive your statement, but you do not need to be concerned about this or do anything further at this stage.

One-off pension option

As part of the communication issued in May, we also summarised a pension option we’re making available to eligible members, to elect to receive a one-off increase to your pension now in exchange for forgoing certain future increases. If you were eligible and chose to receive a combined option pack with full details of this pension option, you’ll receive this along with confirmation of any impact to your current pension as a result of addressing the historical GMP inequality and converted GMPs in September 2024.