CHAIR'S WELCOME

Welcome to the 2023 Trustee’s annual newsletter, which we hope will keep you up to date with the key developments over the past 12 months and enhance your understanding of both the Savings Trust and the role of the Trustee.

The Savings Trust has been awarded the Pension Quality Mark (PQM) Plus by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), which is the highest standard that can be achieved by a scheme. In order to achieve this prestigious award, the PLSA had to be satisfied that the Trust meets certain contribution requirements, is well managed, and has good member communications.

Our investment strategy review was completed during the year and resulted in a change to the default investment option. Following its successful implementation in June, over 80% of members’ retirement savings are now invested in our bespoke Target Date Fund (TDF) investment solution. This provides a dynamically adjusted mix of investments in funds managed by BlackRock, appropriate to your retirement age.

The new TDF solution allows us to continue our ongoing consideration of sustainable investment. This helps us to meet our regulatory obligations and reflect your views on this subject. We look forward to working with BlackRock to improve member retirement outcomes in line with the Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association’s Retirement Living Standards initiative, which you can find out about later in this newsletter.

The Savings Trust continues to grow as the flagship Rolls-Royce retirement savings scheme for the UK. At the end of June 2023, the total value of member accounts exceeded £1bn for the first time. To mark this event, the Trustee Board negotiated a 0.01% reduction in the annual management charges you pay, with the lower charges coming into effect at the end of July.

During the year, Anne-Marie Smith was appointed as a new member-nominated Director with effect from 1 April. Roger Dale agreed to join the Trustee Board in a similar capacity, replacing Matthew Hill, who completes his extended second term of office at the end of 2023. On behalf of the Trustee Directors, I would like to thank Matthew for his service and dedication to the Trustee Board during the past nine years and wish him well for the future. I also look forward to working with all our new Trustee Directors for the benefit of the Trust and you, our members. You can find out more about the important work that the Trustee Board do on your behalf throughout this newsletter.

We continue to work closely with our administration partner, Aviva, to develop MyWorkplace for your benefit. MyWorkplace is a great way to connect with your retirement savings and is the place to discover financial wellbeing and educational content.

Finally, I would once again like to thank the Trustee Directors for their continued professionalism and commitment, as well as the pensions executive and wider pensions team for their support during a busy year of change for the Trust.

Mark Porter
Chair, Rolls-Royce Retirement Savings Trust

THE CHAIR’S STATEMENT – ARE YOU GETTING VALUE FROM THE TRUST?

Every year, the Trustee Board is required to produce a Chair’s Statement. It summarises the Trust’s arrangements and demonstrates how it provides you with value for money.

The detailed Chair’s Statement forms part of the Trustee’s formal Report and Accounts, which are audited by the independent auditor, Deloitte LLP. You can read this by clicking here.

Here’s a summary of the contents of the Chair’s Statement, together with our membership facts and figures.

What’s in the Chair’s Statement?

GOVERNANCE

Explaining the governance of the Trust’s investment fund options and our thinking behind the recent default investment changes.

MONITORING

Setting out how the Trust’s administration services are reviewed and ensuring that the core financial transactions are processed efficiently.

COSTS & CHARGES

Detailing the charges and transaction costs you pay, with an illustrative example of the cumulative effect on your retirement fund.

VALUE FOR MONEY

Demonstrating how the Trust provides good value for the annual management charges you pay and the cost of governance that’s met by Rolls-Royce.

KNOWLEDGE & UNDERSTANDING

Showing how the Trustee Directors undertake training, maintain appropriate levels of knowledge and understanding, and how they review their own effectiveness.

Assets under management at the year ending 5 April

2023: £955m

2022: £858m

2021: £690m

Active membership

2023: 20,242

2022: 18,306

Deferred membership

2023: 14,791

2022: 14,934

End-to-end administration service times

2023

11 days

2022

11.4 days

2021

14.2 days

Members engaging with Aviva’s MyWorkplace

2023: 64%

2022: 49%

Members who’ve nominated beneficiaries*

2023: 23.4%

2022: 22.3%

2021: 19.2%

*A nominated beneficiary is someone you’d like to receive benefits if you die before taking your retirement savings

WHO ARE YOUR TRUSTEE DIRECTORS?

The Trust is managed by a corporate Trustee company, called Rolls-Royce Retirement Savings Trust Limited, whose Board of Trustee Directors is assisted by a group of professional advisers.

The Trustee Directors review and monitor the performance of Aviva’s administration team, which is also audited externally by Deloitte LLP as part of the annual audit. The Trustee Board has five Company-appointed Trustee Directors, including a Chair and a Director nominated by the Central Negotiating Committee (CNC). They’re joined by three member-nominated Trustee Directors.

The Trustee Board runs the Trust in the interests of all its members and has responsibility for its governance and administration. During the year, Anne-Marie Smith was appointed as a new member-nominated Trustee Director, replacing Nick Halliday who left employment with Rolls-Royce in October 2022. Matthew Hill’s extended term as a member-nominated Trustee Director will end on 31 December 2023 with the vacant role being taken by Roger Dale from 1 January 2024.

Company-appointed Trustee Directors

Mark Porter Photograph

Mark Porter (Chair)

Works Convenor / Chair of UK Council, Rolls-Royce plc, Barnoldswick

Fiona Brown Photograph

Fiona Brown

Group Head of Pensions & Benefits, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby

Rebecca Hodgson Photograph

Rebecca Hodgson

Senior People Partner, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby

Nick Sloan Photograph

Nick Sloan

CNC Machinist / Senior TU Representative, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby

Teresa Waine Photograph

Teresa Waine

Internal Audit Manager, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby

Member-nominated Trustee Directors

Matthew Hill Photograph

Matthew Hill

Chief of Strategic Patents - Aero, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby (up to 31 December 2023)

Anne-Marie Smith Photograph

Anne-Marie Smith

Senior Finance Business Partner, Group IT, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby (from 1 April 2023)

Rebecca Hodgson Photograph

Kevin Wright

Setter / Operator, Convenor, Rolls-Royce plc, Inchinnan

Roger Dale Photograph

Roger Dale

Buyer – GBS, Branch Treasurer & Senior Staff Representative, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby (from 1 January 2024)

Trustee Directors meeting Trustee Directors meeting Trustee Directors meeting

Professionals engaged by the Trust

Pensions Adviser – Pensions Department, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby

Administrator – Aviva Life & Pensions

Auditors – Deloitte LLP

Investment Consultant – Mercer

Investment Manager – BlackRock

Life Assurance Providers – Aviva and Met Life

Secretary to the Trustee – Richard Hill, Pensions Manager, Rolls-Royce plc, Derby

The Trustee Directors attend four quarterly meetings and a strategy event held during October. Each Trustee Director is typically in place for a four-year term and can serve a maximum of two terms.

Focus on the Aviva team

Aviva is a large UK insurer that looks after pensions and investments, as well as other insurances, for its customers. The Savings Trust has been administered by Aviva since 2016.

Over that period, we’ve seen a lot of developments and improvements to the services Aviva provides. MyWorkplace gives you access to your account through a website or mobile app, with integrated retirement tools and calculators that use your actual figures. MyWorkplace replaces the previous Aviva sites you may have used, MyMoney and MyAviva, and is the place where new developments, such as the Snapshot ‘year in review’ feature, will be rolled out in the future. MyWorkplace is now Rolls-Royce branded, and you can expect more features to be added, giving you the content you need.

While Aviva is a large company, it’s full of dedicated people just like us who want to do a good job and make a difference for the savers they look after.

Meet the BlackRock team

BlackRock is a large global investment manager helping millions of people invest to build savings that serve them throughout their lives. For the Trustee Board, their size, experience and reach was very important. Not only did it mean that BlackRock was able to build new funds especially for us, going forwards it means they can invest our savings quickly and efficiently too. The team at BlackRock are very excited about working with us and looking after your savings – here’s a picture of the people working for you.

INVESTMENTS

Over 80% of you invest your savings in our new default investment solution – a Target Date Fund (TDF), designed with your retirement age in mind.

By partnering with BlackRock, one of the world’s leading asset management firms, we’re offering a default solution that’s custom-built for the Savings Trust.

Our default investment solution – the hands-off option

We successfully launched our Target Date Fund (TDF) solution in June 2023, which is now the new default investment choice for those of you who don’t make your own investment choices.

The TDF solution features a dynamically adjusted mix of investments that are in place throughout your journey towards retirement. All you have to do is pick a realistic retirement age – and let the investment experts take care of the rest.

TDFs look at your chosen retirement age and gradually shift your savings from growth-focused to retirement-focused investments over the 15-year period before your retirement. There’s a bespoke TDF covering every possible retirement year from 2023 right up to 2081. We call these ‘vintages’ and yours will be the vintage that matches the year you reach your retirement age.

Here’s an example:

Member is 56 years old. They’ve chosen retirement age of 66

It’s another 10 years until then

Their 66th birthday will be in 2033

That means their retirement savings are invested in the 2033 TDF Vintage

You can review and amend your retirement age at any time in MyWorkplace. Changing your retirement age automatically updates your TDF vintage. Find out how to do it by watching our video.

The Trustee is satisfied that the new strategy will deliver better value for money and improved future retirement outcomes for you. You can find out much more in our special guide to Target Date Funds.

Making your own investment choices – the hands-on option

As an alternative, you can choose to invest your retirement savings in one or more of our self-select investment funds. There are 18 core investment funds to choose from and you can also add in any of the new TDF vintages as well.

Although it’s not a guide to future performance, our interactive guide to investment performance shows what’s happened to the core investment funds over one, three and five years to 31 July 2023. While investment performance in the past year has been disappointing for several well-publicised reasons, it’s useful to consider how these have performed over a longer-term period.

*These five funds formed the default investment option that has been replaced for most members by the new Target Date Fund (TDF) solution.

Investment guide

To find out everything you need to know about your investment options, check out the Savings Trust Guide.

REVIEW YOUR RETIREMENT SAVINGS

Find out what income you’ll need for the retirement you want and how you can achieve your goal.

HOW MUCH SHOULD I SAVE FOR RETIREMENT?

The honest answer is: how much are you likely to spend in retirement? That’s why the Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association has created the Retirement Living Standards. By knowing what your retirement spending is likely to be, you can make better informed choices about how much to save.

We’re big supporters of the Retirement Living Standards, as they provide clear and simple guidance about how much income you’ll need in retirement.

What you’ll need depends on what your expectations are, so the Retirement Living Standards show you figures for a minimum, moderate or comfortable standard of living.

Why not try this three-step check-up to quickly find out how you’re doing?

1: Visit www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk

Check out the standards, so you know what yearly income you’ll need for a minimum, moderate or comfortable retirement. The Retirement Living Standards website has full details, including those for single people and those resident in London, but you can see below what a couple living together outside London might need in retirement.

Minimum
Covers all your needs, with some left over for fun
Couple
£19,900 per year
HOUSE
DIY maintenance and decorating one room a year.
FOOD & DRINK
£96 a week on food (including food away from the home).
TRANSPORT
No car.
HOLIDAYS & LEISURE
A week and a long weekend in the UK every year.
CLOTHING & PERSONAL
£460 for clothing and footwear each year.
HELPING OTHERS
£20 for each birthday present.
Moderate
More financial security and flexibility
Couple
£34,000 per year
HOUSE
Some help with maintenance and decorating each year.
FOOD & DRINK
£127 a week on food (including food away from the home).
TRANSPORT
3-year old car replaced every 10 years.
HOLIDAYS & LEISURE
2 weeks in Europe and a long weekend in the UK every year.
CLOTHING & PERSONAL
£791 per person for clothing and footwear each year.
HELPING OTHERS
£34 for each birthday present.
Comfortable
More financial freedom and some luxuries
Couple
£54,500 per year
HOUSE
Replace kitchen and bathroom every 10/15 years.
FOOD & DRINK
£238 a week on food (including food away from the home).
TRANSPORT
Two cars, replaced every five years.
HOLIDAYS & LEISURE
3 weeks in Europe every year.
CLOTHING & PERSONAL
Up to £1,300 per person for clothing and footwear each year.
HELPING OTHERS
£56 for each birthday present.

2: Use the MyWorkplace retirement forecaster

MyWorkplace knows the value of your Savings Trust account now and how much is likely to be paid in if you remain as a contributing member up to your retirement. It instantly produces an estimate at your scheme retirement age and compares it against the Retirement Living Standards, so you can quickly see how you’re doing. If you’ve got other retirement savings, you can easily add them into the mix and include the state pension to get a complete picture.

3: Are you where you want to be?

If the answer’s yes, that’s great. But if it’s not, you’ve still got options. You can use the forecaster to see the effect of saving a bit more, or maybe pushing back your retirement date.

Use the explore changes feature in the MyWorkplace retirement forecaster to see the effect making these changes might have.

Watch the video to find out how to use the MyWorkplace retirement forecaster.

YOU’RE NOT ON YOUR OWN WHEN SAVING FOR RETIREMENT

If you’re an active contributor to the Savings Trust, you’ll know that your account is topped up every month with contributions from you and Rolls-Royce. But did you realise that your contribution doesn’t cost you as much as the deduction you see on your payslip?

A combination of your savings, Rolls-Royce’s contribution, tax relief from HMRC and the national insurance saving provided through PaySave, means that every £100 going into your Savings Trust account costs you a fraction of that figure.

This graphic shows who’s funding every £100 that goes into your Savings Trust account.

Basic rate taxpayer

Higher rate taxpayer

This graphic assumes you’re paying 6% and getting Rolls-Royce’s maximum 12% contribution. It doesn’t include any contributions made by you in excess of 6%. It’s based on tax legislation effective at July 2023, which may be subject to change. Tax thresholds and rates are slightly different in Scotland – search ‘income tax rates’ at www.gov.uk to find out more. If your contribution is not deducted using PaySave, the national insurance saving won’t apply. Search ‘PaySave’ on the GBS Service Portal to find out more about this method of paying your contributions.

You might find these examples useful too. They’re based on selected annual salaries, so you can see just how much your contribution actually costs you.

Annual salary Total paid in to your account Actual cost to you
£25,000 £4,500 £1,020
£45,000 £8,100 £1,836
£65,000 £11,700 £2,262

How we worked this out

Your gross contribution (6%) Rolls-Royce contribution (12%) PaySave and tax relief saves you
£1,500 £3,000 £480
£2,700 £5,400 £864
£3,900 £7,800 £1,638

You can see our contribution rate structure at

www.rolls-roycepensions.com/SavingsTrust

Any additional savings you choose to make also qualify for tax relief and PaySave savings, up to HMRC limits. Most people aren’t affected by the limits on tax relief but you can find out what these are by checking out our tax factsheets.

CAN I GET HELP AT RETIREMENT?

All members are encouraged to take retirement advice when taking their benefits.

To help with this, the Trustee Board has appointed WPS Advisory as their preferred provider of retirement advice. And in some circumstances, the cost of the advice is funded by Rolls-Royce and the Trustee. Find out more…

Current employees aged 55 or over with three years’ service who are retiring when leaving employment

You’re entitled to retirement advice from WPS Advisory, which is funded by Rolls-Royce and the Trustee.

When you let your manager know you’re leaving, we’ll get in contact to let you know how to access the advice service.

You can find out more about how it works by reading our retirement journey plan.

Funded retirement advice is provided once only. If you decide not to retire and need advice later, this will be subject to a charge. Funded retirement advice is provided for standard cases; if your needs are more complex, a charge may apply. This will be discussed and agreed with you before any chargeable work is done.

If you’ve registered for the funded retirement advice as part of your retirement from the Rolls-Royce UK Pension Fund, you don’t need to do this again.

All other retiring members

While the retirement advice is not funded by the Company and the Trustee, you can still access this service at preferential rates, starting from £300 + VAT for your Savings Trust membership and rising to £750 + VAT if you also have retirement savings outside of the Savings Trust.

You can contact WPS Advisory on their dedicated Rolls-Royce helpline on 0808 500 1425 or email them to get started.

As well as providing independent retirement advice, WPS Advisory will be able to answer any questions you have about the retirement options you have received from Aviva. WPS Advisory acts completely independently of Aviva.

If you’re using your own adviser, please make sure you’re clear about all charges and fees before proceeding and ask for them to be provided in writing.

You can find out more about the various ways you can take your retirement income at this useful page on the government’s MoneyHelper website.

MYWORKPLACE FROM AVIVA

Keep up to date with your retirement savings by using Aviva’s MyWorkplace. Download the app to your phone or tablet, log in to the website or access it password-free through the Rolls-Royce TotalReward Portal.

MyWorkplace allows you to check and manage your workplace pension, view your investment performance, nominate a beneficiary for death benefits and access your information whenever and wherever you need to. You can also use the built-in retirement forecaster to see what your savings might provide at a future retirement date.

You also have access to Aviva’s new wellbeing library in your MyWorkplace account. It’s packed with useful guides to help with financial, mental, physical and family wellbeing. Just click on the Wellbeing icon when you log in.

You can read our guide to registering for MyWorkplace here. And if you’ve already registered, you can log in or download the app here.

Current employees can also get into MyWorkplace using the Quick Links in the TotalReward Portal. If you’re reading this on the Rolls-Royce network, click here for single sign-on access. This link will only work if you’re logged in to the Rolls-Royce network.

Any problems logging in?

If you have any questions about your account or need help with logging in, please contact the Aviva team:

Phone: 0345 604 0803

Email: Rolls-Royce.mymoney@aviva.com

Phonelines are open Monday to Friday, 8.30am – 5.30pm

If you’re an existing MyAviva user, you can use your MyAviva username and password to access MyWorkplace.

YOUR BENEFICIARIES – KEEP THEM UP TO DATE

Paying death benefits is made simpler and quicker when you nominate a beneficiary. And it’s easy to nominate someone. Find out how to do it today.

DID YOU KNOW?

Based on a salary of £42,000, the standard death-in-service lump sum death benefit would amount to £252,000 (active members only). And for all members, there’s the value of your account to pay out, too.

By nominating a beneficiary, you’re letting the Trustee know who you want to receive the benefits that are payable if you die before you retire. Find out how to review or change your beneficiary in MyWorkplace by watching the video.

The allocation of your death benefits is decided by the Trustee. Please help the Trustee to make the right decision by reviewing or updating your beneficiaries today.

RESPONSIBLE INVESTING

In last year’s member survey, over 70% of you said you were worried about climate change. Over 50% of respondents said it’s important or very important that we use our investment strategy to drive positive social changes, and almost 70% thought it was important that we hold to account the companies we invest in when it comes to ESG issues.

What is ESG again? It stands for environmental, social and governance – and many people, governments, investment companies and others believe that companies that consider ESG targets in their business strategies will perform better. If you’re interested in learning more about ESG, we recommend checking out Aviva’s ESG Hub to find out how your investments are changing things for the better.

The Trustee Board took your feedback into account when it designed the Target Date Funds that were launched in June 2023. It also shared with BlackRock the overall targets it set in 2022, which are to be net zero on carbon emissions by 2050, with an interim target of a 50% reduction compared with the 2022 investment portfolio by 2030.

In next year’s newsletter (by which time BlackRock will have been investing all of our default funds for over a year), we’ll be able to give you a more detailed breakdown on how we’re doing against these targets.

BlackRock will screen all the companies they might invest in – how they’ll do this is shown in this graphic. They’ll exclude companies involved in thermal coal, UN Global Compact violations, civilian firearms, tobacco, controversial weapons, significant ESG controversies and poor reporting of ESG data. They’ll include equity (stocks) and corporate bond funds in developed markets. And they expect to invest sustainably in emerging markets soon, as better data becomes available.

YOUR OTHER BENEFITS

Find out how to get a forecast of your state pension, or how to transfer benefits into the Savings Trust.

State pension forecast

To help with your retirement planning, check your state pension age and to get a forecast, head to www.gov.uk/state-pension-age

Transferring benefits into the Savings Trust

If you’d like to consider transferring an existing defined contribution benefit into the Savings Trust, log in to your MyWorkplace account and head to the ‘transfer a pension’ section. This shows you how the transfer process works and what you need to know and consider before you start.

If you’ve transferred retirement savings in the past, you’ll know that it wasn’t always a quick process. The good news is that the Savings Trust uses the Origo transfer service to help speed up the transfer of benefits. Origo is an independent online transfer service used to transfer money securely and efficiently. It cuts down paperwork and speeds up transfer times.

Aviva will check to see if your previous scheme is signed up to Origo and use it if they are.

Keep the scammers at bay

The MoneyHelper website, provided by HM Government and The Money & Pensions Service, will give you the knowledge to protect yourself from pension scams. Before transferring retirement savings, take a few minutes out to make sure you’re Scam Aware. Click here to find out more.

Be careful when transferring your benefits away from the Trust. To make sure you’re getting the right advice, please use the services provided by WPS Advisory, as they are recommended by both the Trustee and Rolls-Royce. Find out more in the ‘Can I get help at retirement’? section of this newsletter. If you think you’re being targeted by a scammer, contact the Aviva team straight away on 0345 604 0803. They may be able to stop any transfer that’s not taken place. Make sure you report the scam to the Financial Conduct Authority at www.fca.org.uk/consumers/report-scam or by calling them on 0300 500 8082 (+44 207 066 1000 if you’re overseas).

OTHER INFORMATION

The Savings Trust’s online home can be found at www.rolls-roycepensions.com/SavingsTrust.

The Savings Trust homepage hosts detailed information about the Trust. You can find out all you need to know about:

  • Joining and transferring existing benefits
  • Investing your retirement savings
  • Our contribution structure
  • Increasing your retirement savings
  • Tax relief
  • Additional benefits
  • Where you can get help.

You’ll also find the member and investment guide here and links to MyWorkplace and Rolls-Royce’s TotalReward Portal.

The Savings Trust homepage can be accessed at www.rolls-roycepensions.com/SavingsTrust

There’s also a selection of help videos available to you on our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/Rolls-RoycePensions

Formal documents

If you want to see any of the Trust’s formal documents, these are available on request.

Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure

The Trustee Directors also have an Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure available to Trust members. This procedure is in line with statutory requirements. In the event you wish to make a complaint, the first step is to send details of your complaint in writing to the Secretary to the Trustee at this address:

Secretary to the Trustee – Rolls-Royce Retirement Savings Trust

Rolls-Royce Pensions (A-90)

PO Box 31

Derby

DE24 8BJ

KEEP IN TOUCH

It’s important to keep all your details up to date so that we can contact you about your benefits in the Trust. You can check and update these easily in My Workplace by heading to:

App: Tap on ‘Profile’ at the bottom of the screen

Website: Click on ‘Your account’ at the top right of the web page then choose ‘Your Profile’

Alternatively, call the Rolls-Royce team at Aviva on 0345 604 0803 or email rolls-royce.mymoney@aviva.com

Let us know what you think about our annual newsletter. Send your feedback to: pensions.web@rolls-royce.com