Defined benefit plan to close for Tesco’s 350,000 scheme members
TESCO will close its deficit-laden pension scheme next year, bringing the curtain down on one of the few remaining final salary schemes in the FTSE 100.
The supermarket giant’s scheme, which has 350,000 members, will shut to current members in February 2016. Tesco will transfer members into a new plan. The group will launch a consultation in the summer about the shape of the new scheme, after its triennial valuation in May.
The scheme, led by Ruston Smith, has been a burden on the group’s financial accounts, having fallen into a £3.4bn deficit. Last year, the company was forced to plough £540m into the plan.