The funding of the Defined Benefit (DB) part of the Baptist Pension Scheme has improved to the point where a buy-in with an insurance company has been carried out as a first stage to buying-out the DB which will ensure pensions will continue to be paid whilst removing risk from the Baptist family.

At the end of June 2022, the Baptist Pension Scheme signed an agreement with the insurance company Just Group (‘Just’) to secure members’ pension benefits under the Defined Benefit (‘DB’) Plan.  This agreement is referred to as a ‘buy-in policy’.  It follows a similar agreement with Just in 2019 that covered most pensions in payment at that time. The combined agreements mean that Just are now providing financial backing for all DB pensions provided through the Scheme’s DB Plan.
 
The cost of such policies is largely driven by financial markets and these have moved substantially in the Scheme’s favour, particularly over the course of the last few months. As a result, this transaction takes the Scheme out of a shortfall position for the first time in two decades. Although risks remain, the Baptist Union and the Trustee of the Scheme have agreed that deficit contributions from each participating employer in the DB Plan will reduce to just £1 per month from August 2022.
 
A joint letter from the Pension Trustees and the Baptist Pensions Employers Group to employers with DB liabilities sets out more detail.
A letter from the Baptist Union Treasurer to all churches follows up the pensions letter with a challenge about Home Mission giving.