The Chancellor’s announcement on 23 September 2022 confirmed several tax cuts which appeared to be funded primarily through government borrowing.

This caused concern amongst investors about the level of government debt and led to investors demanding a much higher return for investing in government bonds, causing their value to drop sharply. The Bank of England then stepped in and announced that it would buy up to £65 billion of government bonds to help stabilise bond prices and restore calm to investment markets.

The Trustee and its advisers acted swiftly to minimise the impact on the Scheme’s funding position and are working with the investment managers to ensure that the Scheme has robust processes in place to deal with any further market volatility. Please be reassured that at no point was the Scheme in danger of insolvency or at risk of being unable to pay benefits.