Ryanair 2010 Annual Report Download - page 181

179
21 Pensions
The Company accounts for pensions in accordance with IAS 19, “Employee Benefits.”
The Company operates defined-benefit and defined-contribution schemes.
Defined-benefit schemes
The Company funds the pension entitlements of certain employees through defined-benefit plans. Two
plans are operated for eligible Irish and UK employees. In general, on retirement, a member is entitled to a
pension calculated at 1/60th of the final pensionable salary for each year of pensionable service, subject to a
maximum of 40 years. These plans are fully funded on a discontinuance basis and the related pension costs and
liabilities are assessed in accordance with the advice of a professionally qualified actuary. The investments of
the plans at March 31, 2010 consisted of units held in independently administered funds. The most recent full
actuarial valuations of the plans were carried out at June 30, 2007 in accordance with local regulatory
requirements using the projected unit credit method, and the valuation reports are not available for public
inspection.
A separate annual actuarial valuation has been performed for the purposes of preparing these financial
statements. The principal actuarial assumptions used for the purpose of this actuarial valuation were as follows:
At March 31,
2010 2009 2008
% % %
Discount rate used for Irish plan................................................................
..
5.25 6.00 6.25
Discount rate used for UK plan................................................................
....
5.60 6.30 6.60
Return on plan assets for Irish plan................................
..............................
6.67 6.40 7.28
Return on plan assets for UK plan ................................
...............................
7.45 7.18 7.91
Rate of euro inflation................................................................
...................
2.25 2.00 2.50
Rate of UK inflation ................................................................
....................
3.50 3.00 3.25
Future pension increases in Irish plan................................
..........................
0.00 0.00 0.00
Future pension increases in UK plan ................................
...........................
3.40 3.00 3.25
Future salary increases for Irish plan (a)................................
......................
2.25 3.00 3.50
Future salary increases for UK plan (a) ................................
.......................
3.50 4.00 4.25
______________
(a) Future salary increases assumed to be 0% until 2012 in line with the company’s expected policy and in line with
inflation thereafter (euro 2.25%; UK 3.50%).
The Company uses certain mortality rate assumptions when calculating scheme liabilities. The
mortality assumptions of the Irish scheme have been based on the mortality table 62%/70% PNM/FL00 while
the mortality assumptions of the UK scheme have been based on the “SAPS” mortality table. Both mortality
assumptions make allowance for future improvements in mortality rates. Retirement ages for scheme members
are 60 for pilots and 65 for other staff.
The current life expectancies underlying the value of the scheme liabilities for the Irish scheme are as
follows:
At March 31,
2010 2009 2008
Retiring at age 60:
Male................................................................................................
.............
26.3 25.8 25.5
Female ................................................................................................
.........
28.0 27.6 28.4
Retiring at age 65:
Male................................................................................................
.............
22.0 21.4 20.8
Female ................................................................................................
.........
23.5 23.1 23.7