Consultation has recently started with Active members of the GE Pension Plan (‘the Plan’). This relates to a proposal to close the Plan to the future accrual of pension from 1 January 2022. GEH Holdings (‘the Company’) is leading the consultation process on behalf of the other participating employers in the Plan.
Please note that the consultation is only for Active members i.e. those members who are currently working for GE and contributing to the Plan. The consultation does not affect benefits for Deferred members or Pensioners of the Plan.
The Trustee’s primary duty is to administer the Plan in accordance with its Rules and to protect benefits that have already been built up in the Plan. It is for the Company to decide what benefits to provide for the future and under the Rules of the Plan, the Company has the unilateral power to close the Plan to future accrual. Therefore, the Trustee is not required under the Rules to agree to the proposals and we are not involved in the consultation process. However, we would like to reassure members that whatever the outcome of the consultation the Trustee remains committed to working with the Company to continue protecting the funding position of the Plan and maintaining the security of members’ pensions.
We have prepared a short set of Q&As to help answer questions about your Plan benefits which can be accessed here.
Some members have asked if the Financial Update communication which was recently issued by the Trustee, is related to the consultation process. This is a Trustee communication containing an annual update on the Plan’s finances and a similar communication is issued at about the same time every year. It is for information for all Plan members but is not connected to nor does it have any bearing on the Company’s consultation process.
If members have any questions about the consultation process they should refer to the Pension Proposal Guide issued by the Company to all Active members or consult the website set up by the Company for the consultation at onehr.ge.com/sl/UKDBPensionConsultation.
February 2021
