Irish DB scheme funding agreed

Yesterday a meeting was held between Unite, SIPTU and AXA management in relation to the health of the AXA Ireland Defined Benefit Pension Scheme. As most members are no doubt aware, the scheme is in serious deficit as a result of the collapse on the financial markets and the slow return to growth.

The company have agreed to increase their contributions to the scheme as part of a recovery plan and have outlined a plan to return the scheme to full funding by March 2016. This plan was outlined to the unions, just over a week ago and the meeting yesterday was held to answer the questions the unions had about how the scheme would work and the implications for staff.

All of our questions were answered by the management to our satisfaction. The increased funding of the scheme is being undertaken by the company using a release from their investment portfolio. This plan has been approved by the Board of trustees, the shareholders and the Pensions Board.