Helping people find their lives again - RNIB

19. Pension costs (continued)
The assets of the Scheme are held with Legal and General (for equities and bonds), and RREEF
Limited (for property). The defined benefit assets are invested according to the Statement of
Investment Principles agreed by the Scheme Trustees. This sets a benchmark allocation of assets.
The defined contribution assets are invested in line with member instructions.
Defined Benefit Assets
The percentages in this table refer
to the long-term rates of return.
2009
2008 2007
% £’000 % £’000 % £’000
Equities 7.9 61,840 7.75 71,306 8.0 73,925
Corporate Bonds 5.75 14,482 n/a – n/a –
Fixed Interest gilts 4.0 7,604 4.6 26,211 4.7 24,836
Index-linked gilts 3.8 4,893 4.4 6,645 4.45 5,734
Property (including unit trusts) 6.9 3,657 6.75 5,205 7.0 6,048
Cash (including net current
assets)
Total market value of Scheme
assets
4.3 970 5.9 733 5.5 439
93,446 110,100 110,982
Present value of Scheme liabilities (101,557) (92,177) (102,930)
Net Pension Scheme (liabilities)
assets
(8,111) 17,923 8,052
RNIB employs a building block approach in determining the long-term rate of return on pension
plan assets. Historical markets are studied and assets with higher volatility are assumed to
generate higher returns consistent with widely accepted capital market principles. The assumed
long-term rate of return on each asset class is set out within this note. The overall expected rate
of return on assets is then derived by aggregating the expected return for each asset class over
the actual asset allocation for the Scheme at the 31 March 2009.
At 31 March 2009 £22,086,000 of assets were held in fixed interest gilts. However, a previously
agreed change to investment strategy was enacted on 1 April 2009 and £14,482,000 was moved
into corporate bonds.
Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2009 65