The Trustees of the NTL Pension Plan have stated that they are progressing towards an insurance buy-in of the Plan benefits obligations with the eventual aim of a full buy-out. In order to do this it is essential that Plan benefits are fully and accurately defined. In progressing this it was found that certain amendments to the Plan Rules made in 1999 may have not have had actuarial confirmation and could thus be ineffective. This made benefits due to certain members uncertain.
Clarification of whether actuarial sign off was needed required application to the High Court to confirm whether the 1999 deed was effective, as represented by three specific questions. The Plan Trustees took a neutral position, a Representative Beneficiary was selected to represent Plan Members, with the Plan Sponsor, Virgin Media, opposing.
The High Court decided in favour of the Representative Beneficiary on all three points. Virgin Media accepted the judgement on two of the three points but went to appeal on the third. The Court of Appeal upheld the original judgement.
Consequently, the Plan Trustees are in the process, as at December 2024, of making correction payments to all those affected by the court judgement.