John Lewis Partnership plc annual report and accounts 2012

24 Retirement benefit obligations (continued)

Graph showing Retirement benefit obligations (continued)

History of experience of gains and losses | 2012 (£m) | 2011 (£m) | 2010 (£m) | 2009 (£m) | 2008 (£m)

Losses/(gains) on assets 145.1 | (179.2) | (164.7) | 514.5 | 110.3
% of assets at the end of the year 6% | 7% | 8% | 32% | 6%
Experience losses/(gains) on defined
benefit obligation 33.4 | (106.5) | (28.0) | (17.4) | 60.6
% of defined benefit obligation at the end of the period 1% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 3%
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Contributions will be as follows until the next actuarial valuation, due as at 31 March 2013:

The John Lewis Partnership Trust for Pensions – 12.2% of scheme members’ gross taxable pay (excluding Partnership bonus).

For the John Lewis Partnership Senior Pension Scheme – £1.6m, or such other amount as certified by the scheme actuary based upon an analysis of the membership data at the start of the scheme year.

On 30 January 2010 the Partnership entered into an arrangement with the Pension Scheme Trustees to address an element of the scheme deficit that existed at that time.

The Partnership established two partnerships, JLP Scottish Limited Partnership and JLP Scottish Partnership, which are both consolidated within these Partnership financial statements.

Together with another Partnership company, JLP Scottish Limited Partnership provided sufficient capital to JLP Scottish Partnership to enable it to procure property assets with a market value of £150.9m from other Partnership companies. The Partnership retains control over these properties, including the flexibility to substitute alternative properties. The Properties held in JLP Scottish Partnership have been leased back to John Lewis plc and Waitrose Limited. In September 2011, the Partnership withdrew properties with a market value of £70.0m and substituted these with other properties with a market value of £72.8m.

As a partner in JLP Scottish Limited Partnership, the pension scheme is entitled to an annual share of the profits of the JLP Scottish Limited Partnership each year over 21 years. At the end of this period, the partnership capital allocated to the pension scheme will be reassessed, depending on the funding position of the pension scheme at that time, with a potential value in the range £0.5m to £99.5m. At that point, the Partnership may be required to transfer this amount in cash to the scheme.

Under IAS 19, the investment held by the pension scheme in JLP Scottish Limited Partnership, a consolidated entity, does not represent a plan asset for the purpose of the Partnership’s consolidated accounts. Accordingly, the pension deficit position presented in these consolidated accounts does not reflect the £94.6m (2011: £98.0m) investment in JLP Scottish Limited Partnership held by the pension scheme. The distribution of JLP Scottish Limited Partnership profits to the pension scheme is reflected as pension contributions in these consolidated accounts on a cash basis.

75