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28. Employee benefits

The non-current employee benefits comprise:

  • other long-term employee benefits, including long-service awards;

  • obligations resulting from occupational disability and supplements to social security payments;

  • obligations relating to defined benefit plans.

(in millions of euros)

31 December 2020

31 December 2019

Defined benefit plans

5

3

Other long-term employee benefits

32

32

Total

37

35

Pension liabilities

The staff of the NS Group companies are covered by the pension plans of the following pension funds. The table also shows the numbers of active members.

(numbers)

31 December 2020

31 December 2019

Railway Pensions Fund

16,839

16,878

Hotel & Catering industry pension fund

1,338

1,558

Food business industry pension fund

832

981

Servex supplementary pension plan

48

49

ScotRail

5,170

4,713

East Anglia/Greater Anglia

1,768

1,702

Abellio Transport Holdings

16

24

Abellio London & Surrey

1,890

2,113

Abellio West Midlands

2,426

2,475

In all cases where an employee is a member of an industry pension fund, the NS Group companies have no obligation to pay supplementary contributions in the event of a deficit in that industry pension fund, other than payment of future contributions. Equally, the NS Group companies have no claim to any surpluses in the funds. Consequently, these defined benefit pension plans are accounted for in these financial statements as defined contribution plans, in accordance with IFRS.

The total amount of the pension contributions charged to the income statement in 2020 was €148 million (2019: €141 million).

Railway and Public Transport Pension Fund pension plan (defined contribution plan)

The pension plan for the railway industry is administered by the Railway and Public Transport Pension Fund (Pensioenfonds Rail en OV). As of 1 April 2020, the Railway Pension Fund (Spoorwegpensioenfonds) merged into the Railway and Public Transport Pension Fund. The plan qualifies for recognition in the financial statements as a defined contribution plan. The contribution agreed with the Railway and Public Transport Pension Fund is a fixed annual contribution agreed in advance and expressed as a percentage of the pensionable earnings. In 2020, NS paid the nominal pension contribution of 24% to the pension fund. Two-thirds of the pension contributions paid to the Railway and Public Transport Pension Fund are paid by the company and one-third is paid by the employees. After payment of the agreed contribution, the company has no obligation to pay additional amounts should there be a deficit in the pension fund. The actuarial risks and investment risks are borne by the pension fund and its members.

At the end of 2015, the Group made new agreements with the pension fund for dealing with the contribution build-up that came into effect on 1 January 2017. This led to a receivable from Railway and Public Transport Pension Fund of about €240 million that was received in two years (2016 and 2017). The employees’ part of the contribution build-up (one third of the amount) is recognised as a debt and will be settled with the employees over the next few years up to and including 2022. The employer’s part of the contribution build-up (two thirds of the amount) has been added to the lump-sum payment for wage increases and will be credited to the pension costs up to 2035 (note 27).

There is a defined contribution plan for Abellio London & Surrey and the Servex supplementary pension plan.

Defined benefit plans

Abellio Greater Anglia, Abellio ScotRail, Abellio West Midlands and Abellio Transport Holdings have arranged for pensions for their staff to be administrated by the UK Railways Pension Scheme. The fund in question can be considered as a company pension fund and the pension plan as a defined benefit plan.

Every company is a designated employer for one or more cost-sharing agreements within the Railways Pension Scheme. Such cost-sharing agreements are geared to a lifelong pension. The amount of the pension depends on how long an employee was an active member of the pension plan and on their salary when leaving the plan (final salary plan).

Because of the nature of the cost-sharing agreements, the amounts payable to cover both the costs of the accrued pension entitlements and any shortfall between the value of the assets and the value of the pension liabilities are borne jointly by the employer and the contributing members in a ratio of 60% to 40% respectively. As a consequence, the employer recognises 60% of the total pension costs and pension liabilities in the balance sheet. The Railways Pension Scheme is administered by the Trustee, the Railways Pension Trustee Company Limited. The plans’ assets are invested via investment funds, each with a different risk and return profile.

The pension liabilities and the pension assets are based on actuarial calculations that were performed as at 31 December. At year-end 2020, the net liabilities of Abellio Transport Holdings Limited were €5 million (year-end 2019: €3 million). The average term for the pension liabilities is about 24 years.

To reflect the nature of the franchise, the shortfalls between the pension liabilities and the pension assets for Abellio Greater Anglia, Abellio ScotRail and Abellio West Midlands have been included in ‘Non-current liabilities’ to the extent that they concern the term of the franchise. The remaining amount at the end of the term of the franchise is not recognised in the balance sheet because it will constitute part of the debts of the next franchise holder. At year-end 2020, the net liabilities were nil (year-end 2019: nil). The average term for both pension liabilities is about 20 years. 

In determining the pension costs, only the costs that are expected to be borne by the franchisee (the Group) during the term of the franchise are recorded in the income statement. These net pension costs are therefore calculated while taking into account that part of the costs that will be borne by the employees (40%) and by other parties after the end of the current term of the franchise. This net calculation also takes into account any allocation within the term of the franchise that may possibly occur in connection with the triennial assessments during the term of the franchise, as well as any adjustments to the annual contributions over the term of the franchise.

Basic assumptions for defined benefit plans

The following assumptions were used for determining the pension liabilities and the pension assets (based on a weighted average):

 

31 December 2020

31 December 2019

Discount rate

1.6%

2.2%

Total wage increase

2.4%

2.2%

Increase of pension benefits

2.4%

1.9%

Inflation

2.9%

1.9%

Mortality table: S1NA tables with CMI 2019 projections plus long-term expectation of +1.25%.

Breakdown  

The breakdown of the pension liabilities is as follows.

(in millions of euros)

31 December 2020

31 December 2019

Fair value of plan assets

2,767

2,727

Present value of defined benefit obligations

4,694

3,764

Deficit

1,927

1,037

Employees' share

-771

-415

Deficit at the end of the franchise period

-1,151

-619

Group's net commitments concerning franchise period

5

3

Sensitivity analysis

Reasonably likely changes in one of the relevant actuarial assumptions on the balance-sheet date, while keeping all other assumptions constant, would have the following effect on the gross liability pursuant to the defined benefit entitlements.

(adjustment by 0.25%) (in millions of euros)

Increase

Decrease

Discount rate

-273

291

Inflation

288

-271

Future salary increases

73

-70

A change in life expectancy of one year would lead to a change in the gross liability of about €150 million (31 December 2019: €95 million). The impact of these changes on the Group’s net liabilities during the term of the franchise is expected to be limited, given the transfer of liabilities at the end of the franchise.

Movement

The changes in the pension assets and liabilities are as follows.

(in millions of euros)

2020

2019

Plan assets as at 1 January

2,727

1,820

Addition of new fund

-

479

Interest income

56

65

Pension contributions (including employees' share)

73

65

Pension benefits paid

-84

-56

Administration expenses

-13

-10

Return on plan assets, excluding interest income

154

252

Exchange results

-146

112

Plan assets as at 31 December

2,767

2,727

   

Defined benefit obligations as at 1 January

3,764

2,338

Addition of new fund

-

679

Pension costs

151

118

Interest expenses

76

84

Pension benefits paid

-84

-56

Net actuarial gain or loss

988

459

Exchange results

-201

142

Defined benefit obligations as at 31 December

4,694

3,764

Breakdown of pension assets

The breakdown of the pension assets is as follows.

(in millions of euros)

31 December 2020

31 December 2019

Shares

1,914

1,791

Fixed-income securities

174

181

Property

240

252

Cash

261

349

Other

178

154

Total

2,767

2,727

Pension costs recognised in the income statement

(in millions of euros)

2020

2019

Pension costs (employer's share)

91

71

Interest expenses

-

-

Administration expenses

8

6

Adjustment due to limitation of franchise period

-52

-37

Total

47

40

Based on current accounting policies, the Group expects to recognise pension costs for Abellio of €47 million for the above defined benefit plans in 2021.

Unrealised actuarial gains and losses

(in millions of euros)

2020

2019

Net actuarial gain or loss due to:

  

- Demographic assumptions

-14

20

- Financial assumptions

999

-520

- Experience adjustments

4

-

Return on plan assets, excluding interest income

-154

239

Adjustment due to limitation of franchise period

-462

140

Changes in members' share

-373

121

Total

-

-

Other long-term employee benefits

This includes long-service award obligations. The AG2019 mortality table is used for the calculation of the long-service award obligations.

The changes in the provision were as follows:

(in millions of euros)

2020

2019

Long-service award obligation as at 1 January

32

29

Payments

-3

-2

Actuarial gains and losses

2

2

Accrued interest

1

3

Long-service award obligation as at 31 December

32

32

The current portion of this provision is €3 million.

The sensitivities are as follows.

 

2020

2019

Discounting (-0.5%)

4.3%

4.8%

Total wage increase (0.5%)

4.3%

4.7%

Career opportunities (+25%)

1.3%

3.2%

Probability of resignation/dismissal (+25%)

-6.1%

-5.3%

Accounting policy

‘Employee benefits’ includes pension liabilities for pension plans and other obligations relating to employee benefits, consisting of long-service awards, early retirement payments and obligations due to employees’ occupational disability.

Defined contribution plans are plans under which the Group has no obligations other than to pay the contractual contributions. These contributions are recognised in the income statement in the period for which the contribution is payable.

Defined benefit plans are those plans in which the Group’s obligations extend beyond payment of the mandatory, contractually agreed contribution to pension funds or insurance companies. The Group's net liability is determined individually for each plan by estimating the pension entitlements that employees have accrued in the reporting period and the preceding years. The present value of these pension entitlements is determined and netted off against the fair value of the invested pension assets. The discount rate is the interest rate as at the balance sheet date for high-grade fixed income securities for which the term to maturity is approximately the same as that of the pension liabilities. The calculation takes account of elements such as future wage increases resulting from general developments in wage levels and career opportunities, inflation and current life expectancies. The calculation is performed annually by a qualified actuary using the projected unit credit method. If the calculation results in a benefit to the Group, the recognised asset cannot exceed the net value of any unrecognised past-service pension costs and the present value of any future refunds from the plan or reductions in future contributions to the plan. The employee’s portion is deducted from the liability.

The pension liabilities relating to the Group business units that are based in the United Kingdom have been included for the period during which the transport franchises operate.

The change in pension liabilities and investment returns anticipated at the start of the year, based on the actuarial calculations, is included as a change in the net liabilities and recognised in the income statement. Contributions paid by employers and employees are deducted from the net liabilities. The actuarial gains and losses, which comprise the difference between the actual and anticipated changes in the pension liabilities and investment returns, are recognised in other comprehensive income.

Liabilities relating to long-service awards and early retirement are calculated actuarially and recognised at the present value. This takes account of developments in wages and prices, recent mortality tables and estimates of the employment contract. Any actuarial gains or losses are recognised in the income statement in the period in which they occur. The liabilities due to occupational disability are determined in a similar fashion.

Short-term employee benefits

Any entitlements to time off that have not been taken are converted to the present value, taking account of future salary increases. Other short-term employee benefits are measured without being converted to the present values and recognised when the service associated with them is rendered.

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