Experian 2016 Annual Report Download - page 159

157•Notes to the Group nancial statementsFinancial statements
(iii) Share awards outstanding
2016
million
2015
million
At 1 April 14.8 17.4
Grants 4.5 4.7
Forfeitures (1.2) (1.5)
Lapse of awards (1.7) (0.2)
Vesting (4.2) (5.6)
At 31 March 12.2 14.8
Analysis by plan:
CIPs 3.8 5.2
PSP – conditional awards 3.4 4.1
PSP – unconditional awards 5.0 5.5
At 31 March 12.2 14.8
31. Post-employment benefit plans and related risks
An overview of the Group’s post-employment benefit plans and the related risks is given below. The additional information required
by IAS 19, which relates only to the Group’s defined benefit pension plans and post-employment medical benefits obligations, is set
out in note 32.
(a) Funded pension plans
The Group’s principal defined benefit plan is the Experian Pension Scheme, which provides benefits for certain UK employees but
was closed to new entrants in 2009. This plan has rules which specify the benefits to be paid, with the level of pension benet that
an employee will receive on retirement dependent on age, length of service and salary. As at 31 March 2016 there were 178 active
members of this plan, 1,630 deferred members and 2,938 pensioner members.
The Group provides a defined contribution plan, the Experian Retirement Savings Plan, to other eligible UK employees. Under this
plan, employee and employer contributions are paid by the Group into an independently administered fund, which is used to fund
member pensions at retirement. There were 3,441 active members of this plan at 31 March 2016.
Both UK plans are governed by trust deeds, which ensure that their finances and governance are independent from those of the
Group. Trustees are responsible for overseeing the investments and funding of the plans and plan administration. Employees in the
USA and Brazil have the option to join local defined contribution plans and currently there are 4,109 active members in the USA and
1,421 in Brazil. There are no other material funded pension arrangements.
A full actuarial funding valuation of the Experian Pension Scheme is carried out every three years, with interim reviews in the
intervening years. The latest full valuation was carried out as at 31 March 2013 by independent qualified actuaries Towers Watson
Limited, using the projected unit credit method. There was a small deficit at the date of that valuation. The next full valuation will be
carried out as at 31 March 2016.
(b) Unfunded pension arrangements
The Group’s unfunded pension arrangements are designed to ensure that certain directors and senior managers who are affected by the
earnings cap, which was introduced by the UK government some years ago to set a ceiling on the amount of benefits that could be paid
by defined benefit pension plans, are placed in broadly the same position as those who are not. There are also unfunded arrangements
for Don Robert, a current director of the Company, and certain former directors and employees of Experian Finance plc and Experian
Limited. Don Robert began to receive his pension under this unfunded arrangement in the year ended 31 March 2015. Certain of these
unfunded arrangements in the UK have been secured by the grant of charges to an independent trustee over an independently managed
portfolio of marketable securities owned by the Group and reported as available-for-sale financial assets (note 27(a)).
(c) Post-retirement medical benefits
The Group operates a plan which provides post-retirement medical benefits to certain retired employees and their dependant
relatives. This plan relates to former employees in the UK and, under it, the Group has undertaken to meet the cost of post-
retirement medical benefits for all eligible former employees who retired prior to 1 April 1994 and their dependants.