Objectives and Methods of Funding Defined Benefit Pension Schemes

1985 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 338-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. D. McLeish ◽  
C. M. Stewart

1.1. As every actuarial student is taught:“Pay-as-you-go is acceptable for a State pension scheme because the State is, for practical purposes, assured of a continuing existence”.However:“The position is quite different in the case of an occupational scheme, since an employer's business may cease to exist”.

1987 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. D. McLeish ◽  
C. M. Stewart

The Objective of Funding1.1. As every actuarial student is taught:‘Pay-as-you-go is acceptable for a State pension scheme because the State is, for practical purposes, assured of a continuing existence.’However:‘The position is quite different in the case of an occupational scheme, since an employer's business may cease to exist.’1.2. It seems to us to follow, therefore, that the prime purpose of funding an occupational pension scheme must be to secure the accrued benefits, whatever they might be, in the event of the employer being unable or unwilling to continue to pay at some time in the future. To that end, the contributions would have to be sufficient both to pay the benefits as they fell due for as long as the scheme continued, and also to establish and maintain a fund which would be sufficient to secure the accrued benefits in the event of contributions ceasing and the scheme being discontinued, whenever that might occur.


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. S. Sutcliffe

ABSTRACTThe conditions under which pension schemes merge is an important issue which has been under-researched. Mergers can affect the strength of the sponsor's covenant and the balance of power between the trustees and the sponsor, as well as the deficit or the surplus of the receiving scheme and its funding ratio. This paper sets out two financial criteria to be met by any pension scheme merger: no profit or loss on merging with another scheme; and no dilution of the funding ratio. After defining a merger basis for valuing the assets and liabilities, and allowing for adjustments to the funding ratio via side receipts and payments; it is shown that, whether or not these criteria are met, depends on the state of the financial markets.


1987 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 181-198
Author(s):  
C. D. Daykin ◽  
A. G. Young

In September 1974 Barbara Castle published her proposals for a new earnings-related State pension scheme in her White Paper “Better Pensions”. This followed a succession of attempts by previous Secretaries of State for Social Services to change State pension arrangements radically. Unlike the ill-fated Crossman and Joseph schemes, however, the Castle scheme succeeded both in reaching the statute book and in coming into operation. A Bill was introduced in February 1975 and on 7 August 1975 the Social Security Pensions Act 1975 received the Royal Assent. The State earnings-related pension scheme (SERPS) came into operation on 6 April 1978. It provided State pensions related to earnings, but also offered to employers with good occupational pension schemes the possibility of ‘contracting-out’ and providing equivalent or better earnings-related benefits through their own scheme.


2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-303
Author(s):  
Erik Nijhof

From an international perspective, the Dutch system of old age provisions stands out for its wide coverage, fixed benefits, and an overall actuarial soundness that seem to make this system more shock proof to demographic shifts and economic adversities than those in other “Western” countries. Its actual foundation is a compulsory old age insurance for all citizens, enforced by law and implemented by the state; this insurance is supplemented by fully funded pension schemes for workers and employees, operating under legal control; and finally there is a variety of additional and noncompulsory pension benefits and individual insurance arrangements. The main impetus to the genesis of this system came from employers who, with different agendas, created various pension funds; eventually it was the state, which set a decisive example with a funded pension fund for its civil servants. This became the standard to all corporate pension schemes and provoked innovations like branch funds. These initiatives were supported and regulated by legislation that made these arrangements compulsory and guaranteed their juridical independence and actuarial soundness. Only after this legally promoted maturation of private funds, the state set out to create public arrangements on a “pay-as-you-go” basis for all citizens. This delicate interplay between private and public pension arrangements is highly characteristic of the Dutch variety of capitalism in a broader context. In the polarity between liberal and coordinated market economies, as developed by Soskice and Hall, the Dutch system of old age provisions has played a prominent role in ranking this country more firmly into the latter category. However, within this range of countries the Dutch system of old age provisions is also a bit atypical: private corporate and branch arrangements were encouraged and at the same time embedded in a legal framework. The role of the state was also remarkable: a supervisor of the private funds, a collector and distributor in a universal insurance system, and an employer with an exemplary pension scheme.


1985 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman P. Barry

ABSTRACTThis is a study of the prevailing state pension systems in Britain and the US in the context of a philosophy of welfare that has developed over the last decade. In this philosophy state welfare systems are justified in terms of their maximizing liberty and autonomy rather than merely social justice. It is argued that the state earnings-related pension scheme in Britain and social security in the US, because they are ‘unfunded’ and paid for out of current taxation, are not merely inefficient but also reduce the independence of individuals and impose high burdens on future generations. It is argued that no philosophical justification can be given for this imposition. The major theoretical flaw in state-managed pension arrangements, it is claimed, is the confusion of the welfare principle with the insurance principle.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. N. Hitchcox ◽  
C. Patel ◽  
C. J. Ramsey ◽  
E. L. Studd ◽  
L. T. Ma ◽  
...  

AbstractThe Working Party has developed some practical hints and tips for those developing integrated risk management (IRM) plans for UK defined benefit pension schemes in the context of the requirements of the Pensions Regulator. Four case studies are presented to illustrate its conclusions, which are encapsulated in the ten commandments for effective IRM. IRM is the consideration of investment, funding and covenant issues, and how these interact. Its purpose should be to aid decision making and so should have a clear outcome in mind. It should be a continuous process and should form part of everyday trustee governance – it is not simply a one-off exercise. Whilst most Trustees and advisors consider funding issues when setting their investment strategy and vice versa, fewer fully integrate covenant into their decision-making process. However, covenant underpins all risk taken in a pension scheme and so needs to form a regular part of trustee discussions and analysis by advisors.


1973 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 533-594
Author(s):  
A. J. Low ◽  
P. E. Felton

SynopsisThe paper considers the role which the State should play in the provision of pensions to the retired population. The role of occupational schemes is also considered with particular reference to the restrictions placed on that role by the authorities through the requirements for approval for tax purposes and the cost and level of State pensions. The main features of various State pension schemes which have been proposed in successive White Papers are discussed together with their shortcomings and advantages. The White Paper “Better Pensions” and its implications for the pensions industry are then considered in greater detail.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 127-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subramaniam Iyer

ABSTRACTAmong the systems in place in different countries for the protection of the population against the long-term contingencies of old-age (or retirement), disability and death (or survivorship), defined-benefit social security pension schemes, i.e. social insurance pension schemes, by far predominate, despite the recent trend towards defined-contribution arrangements in social security reforms. Actuarial valuations of these schemes, unlike other branches of insurance, continue to be carried out almost exclusively on traditional, deterministic lines. Stochastic applications in this area, which have been restricted mainly to occasional special studies, have relied on the simulation technique. This paper develops an analytical model for the stochastic actuarial valuation of a social insurance pension scheme. Formulae are developed for the expected values, variances and covariances of and among the benefit expenditure and salary bill projections and their discounted values, allowing for stochastic variation in three key input factors, i.e., mortality, new entrant intake, and interest (net of salary escalation). Each deterministic output of the valuation is thus supplemented with a confidence interval, that is, a range with an attached probability. The treatment covers the premiums under the different possible financial systems for these schemes, which differ from the funding methods of private pensions, as well as the testing of the level of the Fund ratio when the future contributions schedule is pre-determined. Although it is based on a relatively simplified approach and refers only to retirement pensions, with full adjustment in line with salary escalation, the paper brings out the stochastic features of pension scheme projections and illustrates a comprehensive stochastic valuation. It is hoped that the paper will stimulate interest in further research, both of a theoretical and a practical nature, and lead to progressively increasing recourse to stochastic methods in social insurance pension scheme valuations.


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