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Pensions
Employee costs
Employee costs for the Group during the year amounted to:
2009 2008
£m £m
Wages and salaries, including bonus and termination benefits 1,758 1,682
Social security costs 121 116
Pension costs—defined contribution schemes 31 28
Pension costs—defined benefit schemes (note 31) 53 78
Share-based payments expense (note 32) 40 53
The average number of employees, including Directors, during the year were:
2,003 1,957
Number Number
000’s 000’s
Full-time 49.7 48.8
Part-time 98.8 99.1
148.5 147.9
Full-time equivalent 97.3 96.6
All employees were employed in the United Kingdom for the periods presented.
The Group operates various defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes for its employees. A defined benefit scheme is a pension plan that
defines an amount of pension benefit that an employee will receive on retirement. A defined contribution scheme is a pension plan under which the Group pays
fixed contributions into a separate entity.
In respect of defined benefit pension schemes, the pension scheme surplus or deficit recognized in the statement of financial position represents the difference
between the fair value of the plan assets and the present value of the defined benefit obligation at the statement of financial position date. The defined benefit
obligation is actuarially calculated on an annual basis using the projected unit credit method. Plan assets are recorded at fair value.
Employee benefits
Pension obligations
STANDARD CHARTERED PLC Annual Report, 2009
The Group operates a number of pension and other postretirement benefit plans around the world, including defined contribution plans and defined benefit
plans.
For defined contribution plans, the Group pays contributions to publicly or privately administered pension plans on a mandatory, contractual, or voluntary
basis, and such amounts are charged to operating expenses. The Group has no further payment obligations once the contributions have been paid.
For funded defined benefit plans, the liability recognized in the statement of financial position is the present value of the defined benefit obligation at the
statement of financial position date less the fair value of plan assets. For unfunded defined benefit plans the liability recognized at the statement of financial
position date is the present value of the defined benefit obligation. The defined benefit obligation is calculated annually by independent actuaries using the