The big numbers to know
In the beginning, we started the year with around £36.8 billion.
During the year:
We added:
- £1.0 billion contributions from Barclays and members
- £0.8 billion from returns on investments
We paid out:
- £1.4 billion for members’ pensions and benefits
We ended our financial year with around £37.2 billion (around £0.4 billion more than we started with).
Want to dig into the detail? These numbers are from our full UKRF Annual Report 2021, which have been checked or ‘audited’ by KPMG LLP.
| Income and expenditure | Total 2021 £m | Defined Benefit (DB) £m | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m | Total 2020 £m |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance at the beginning of the Fund year | Total 2021 £m 36,798 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 34,758 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 2,040 | Total 2020 £m 36,029 |
Money added in |
||||
| Employer contributions (including salary sacrifice contributions) | Total 2021 £m 999 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 946 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 53 | Total 2020 £m 1,289 |
| Member contributions | Total 2021 £m 2 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 1 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 1 | Total 2020 £m 2 |
| Individual transfers in | Total 2021 £m 1 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m – | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 1 | Total 2020 £m – |
| Net investment returns (including investment expenses) | Total 2021 £m 804 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 523 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 281 | Total 2020 £m 985 |
Money paid out |
||||
| Benefits payable | Total 2021 £m 845 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 825 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 20 | Total 2020 £m 854 |
| Payments to and on account of leavers | Total 2021 £m 499 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 408 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 91 | Total 2020 £m 635 |
| Administration and provider costs | Total 2021 £m 20 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 20 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m – | Total 2020 £m 18 |
| Balance at the end of the Fund year | Total 2021 £m 37,240 | Defined Benefit (DB) £m 34,975 | Defined Contribution (DC) (including Afterwork) £m 2,265 | Total 2020 £m 36,798 |
Behind the numbers
Who are our members?
We have over 217,000 members in 10 Sections. Overall we have:
- 19,573 members building future benefits (active members).
- 70,575 members receiving an income (pensioner members).
- 127,034 members who are no longer building benefits and are expected to take their benefits in future (deferred members).
Our net return on investment for the year was £804 million.
We manage the Fund’s DB investments on behalf of members, including Afterwork members in the Credit Account. If you have Defined Contribution (DC) benefits, we offer a range of fund options which allows you to manage your own investments to best suit your circumstances and retirement plans.
More about our DB investments
How do we decide where to invest DB funds?
To help decide in which specific funds and assets to invest, we are guided by our Statement of Investment Principles (SIP). Our SIP sets our overall strategy, including how much to invest in each type of asset, what we expect from our fund managers, and which risks we need to manage. It also reflects our commitment to Responsible investment (RI). RI is a holistic investment approach that involves looking at all of the things that could influence a fund’s performance, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. These factors are defined further in our RI Policy, which also influences our investment choices. For more about how we’re making RI work for us in practice read We’re turning words into action.
What happened in 2021?
We continued to monitor the Fund’s portfolio, making minor adjustments as needed, but overall, our investments remained unchanged during the year across the different types of assets.
Where we were invested as at 30 September 20202021
| As at September 2021 | As at September 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| High return assets | As at September 202114% | As at September 202013% |
| Contractual cashflow assets (CCA) | As at September 202118% | As at September 202018% |
| High quality credit | As at September 202121% | As at September 202022% |
| Cash & Liability-driven investments (LDI) | As at September 202147% | As at September 202047% |
In 2021, compared to the previous year our investment in:
- High return assets (like equities) represented a slightly higher proportion of assets
- Contractual cashflow assets (assets that provide fixed cashflow at certain times) stayed the same
- High quality credit (lower-risk assets (like long-term bonds) that have more predictable cash flows) represented a slightly lower proportion of assets
- Cash assets and LDIs (assets that align to our future liabilities) stayed the same.
DC section (including the Afterwork Investment Account) investments
You can read about the funds available on the Defined Contribution (DC) costs and charges page. You can also check where your DC Investment Account is invested (and its performance) by logging in to ePA.