GMP Reconciliation & Equalisation
The Trustee continues to work with its advisors to complete the ongoing GMP Reconciliation and Equalisation projects. Some members will be contacted in the coming months regarding the outcomes of these projects, so please keep an eye out for any communications about your benefits.
Closure to Accrual and planned closure of Dewsbury site
As some members may be aware, the Company has been in consultation with the active members in the Plan and the conclusion is that the Plan will close to ongoing accrual from 31 December 2023. This means that there will be no active members in the Plan from 2024 onwards. The Company has also announced it will be closing the Dewsbury site operated by Dow Chemical Company Limited. Upon receiving the news of the closure, the Trustee sought guidance from its advisers. The Trustee advisers confirmed that the closure of the site is not significant to the security of the Plan and the Trustee does not need to take any further action.
We need your help
As you will know from our recent editions of Spotlight, the Trustee has been working to reduce risk in both Sections of the Plan. But we can’t do this without you, we need your help by making sure your details are up to date.
The Plan’s long term funding target is set to ensure all members’ benefits are secure. If further investment opportunities arise the Trustee and its advisors will again consider any investment options that would be in the best interests of the members. To allow the Trustee to be best placed to act in the event of any such opportunities, it is important that member details are as up to date as possible.
With this in mind the Trustee may need to contact Dow Services Section members over the coming months to verify that any information held is up to date, including contact details and data regarding spouses, partners or any dependants. Although the Trustee may directly contact members, the Trustee would appreciate it if all members of the Dow Services Section review their current information online. This can be done by logging in here.
If you would prefer to contact Capita directly, you can do so using the information found here.
A guide to your benefit statement
Did you review your most recent benefit statement?
It’s really important that you keep track of your pension savings throughout the years and one way to do this is to review your benefit statement which you receive annually. This holds all the information you need to be able to keep an eye on your savings so far.
For members of the Dow Services Section, we’ve created benefit statement guides to help you understand the information that’s included on your statement.
You can access these via the document library.
Fidelity Long Bond Fund closure
Relevant for Dow Section DC members. In September, Fidelity closed the Long Bond Fund at very short notice. If you were invested in this Fund on a self-select basis, you will have received a letter about the closure from Capita. The Trustee has chosen the Fidelity BlackRock Corporate Bond Index Fund All Stocks and the Fidelity BlackRock Over 15 Years UK Gilt Index Fund as replacement funds and these funds are now available to invest in. The Balanced Fund previously included an allocation to the Long Bond Fund. The Trustee replaced this with an allocation to the UK Gilt Fund therefore the overall asset allocation and investment aims for the Balanced Fund remain unchanged.
Going digital
This year’s newsletter has come to you by post, but we’d like to send future editions via email.
There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, we would like to be able to contact you quickly with important pension information. That’s much easier to do if we hold email addresses for our members.
Secondly, the carbon footprint of sending out information digitally is far smaller than our current method of print and postage. As a Trustee we have a responsibility to ensure we’re using the Plan’s resources prudently, as well as considering environmental factors.
Thirdly, if you move house and forget to tell us, important information about your benefits could end up in the wrong hands. By contrast, if you change your email address without telling us, then we’re likely to get a no-delivery message.
Finally, online communications are becoming the usual way for pension schemes to contact their members with updates and information. We want to make sure we – and you – don’t get left behind. We can’t do it without your help though! We’d like you to provide us with your email address as follows:
For Dow Services Section Members - The best way to do that is to register for the Plan website.
For DCL Section Members - The best way to do that is to email your full name and date of birth with your email address to DCLPensions@aon.com
If you aren’t sure whether or not we’ve already got your details, you can contact us just to make sure.
We understand that digital communications aren't for everyone so if you’d prefer to keep receiving hard copies, you need to let us know by contacting the Plan administrator using the contact details.