News

In Issue 6 of The Link newsletter, we updated our members on the Scheme funding position, and on the mechanism to vary the cash contributions made by the Coats Group plc (“Coats”) to Coats UK Pension Scheme (“the Scheme”).

As outlined in The Link, Coats can switch off its monthly contributions to the Scheme if the Scheme reaches over 100% funding (on the technical provisions basis) and is in surplus.

The Trustee of the Scheme has reached agreement with Coats which will enable contributions to be switched off from 1 January 2024.

Coats has agreed to pay the Scheme a one-off lump sum payment of £10 million, which is expected to move it into a surplus position. This means that from 1 January 2024, cash contributions made by Coats to the Scheme will be switched off.

This puts the Scheme in a fully funded position, which is good news for all members, and helps Coats to free up cashflow to enable additional growth opportunities.

Coats will resume paying monthly contributions on a pre-agreed basis if the funding drops to below 99% on the technical provisions basis.

Issue 6 of the Coats UK Pension Scheme newsletter – The Link – is now available. In this issue: Scheme Report and Accounts, Pensioner Paydates, Pensions in the News, and much more. An Annual Funding Statement, showing the funding position of the Scheme as at 31 March 2023, is also available.

You can view these documents online in the members-only section of this website (you will need the secure area password): click here.

The link to the Annual Funding Statement is in the Factsheets area of this section.

As part of the annual Coats UK Pension Scheme Report and Accounts, the Trustee produces a statement for members about the governance in place for members with money purchase benefits (such as Additional Voluntary Contributions).

We are pleased to confirm that this statement for the year ended 31 March 2023 is now available to view here.

We are pleased to advise that the Trustee’s Statement of Investment Principles has been updated.

You can view this document by clicking here.

If you’re clicking from the homepage, please click on “continue reading”, and then click on the blue link shown above .

Under the regulatory requirements now in force, the Trustee is required to produce an annual Implementation Statement, setting out how the policies described in the Scheme’s Statement of Investment Principles (“the SIP”) have been followed.

We are pleased to confirm that this statement, covering the period 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023, is now available to view here.