De Beers Jewellers Limited and De Beers Jewellers UK Limited

The Company is committed to providing you with access to a competitive pension arrangement to help you build your pension savings, plan for your retirement and offer you excellent value for money.

As the DC pensions landscape continues to evolve, the Company wants to ensure colleagues have access to a market-leading and innovative pension scheme that continues to support you with your retirement savings goals. This means an arrangement that embraces recent pension legislation, in particular maintaining access to the wider retirement income options now available to members of DC pension arrangements (including drawdown, i.e. flexible access for savings), while also providing value for money through a cost-effective solution and the latest innovations available in areas such as investment strategy and digital communications services.

The Company has reviewed its existing DC pension arrangement and undertaken a comprehensive review of the market in order to ensure we were able to propose the most appropriate scheme for colleagues and negotiate competitive charges going forwards.  The Company believes, having taken professional advice, that the proposed changes achieve these objectives and will provide an enhanced pension offering for colleagues for the future.

It’s a legal requirement that we consult with colleagues affected by certain pension changes, in this case the closure of the Plan to new contributions and introduction of the L&G Mastertrust as the new scheme with effect from 1 January 2027. The formal consultation period will run for 60 days from 1 October 2026 up to and including 30 November 2026. You can provide feedback and ask questions about the proposed changes, by email to: PeopleServicesEurope@debeersgroup.com before 30 November 2026.  

The Company will consider these and will aim to share updated FAQs every 2 weeks. Once we have considered all comments received during the consultation period, we’ll let you know the outcome of the consultation and whether the proposed changes will go ahead.

A Master Trust is a multi-employer trust-based occupational pension scheme, where each employer (in our case the Company) has its own section within the Master Trust arrangement.

A Master Trust is managed by an authorised provider, such as L&G, but with oversight provided by a board of professional trustees.  As such, the levels of governance and oversight are high, but economies of scale, due to the Master Trust being used as a pension scheme by many different employers, mean that the charges borne by members can be kept low.

Following a comprehensive tender process, L&G has been selected as the Company’s Master Trust provider, should the Company decide to proceed with the proposals following the consultation process.

L&G are a leading provider of DC pension arrangements within the UK. The L&G Mastertrust is used by over 330 employers for over 2 million members and holds assets of over £35bn.* Find more about the L&G Mastertrust.

*Please note, figures shown are correct as at the time of writing and are sourced from L&G. These figures are subject to change in the future.

Please see the question “How safe will my retirement savings be in the L&G Mastertrust?” in the 'Other' section below for details of L&G’s financial strength.

DC (Defined Contribution) simply means that the benefits provided to members are dependent on the historical contributions which have been made into the pension scheme, along with any investment returns, less charges, over time.  DC is sometimes also referred to as ‘money purchase’, although both have the same meaning.

The change will not affect the nature of the benefits that you can expect to receive at retirement, which will continue to be DC in nature.

All colleagues paying into the DC Section at 31 December 2026 will be immediately enrolled into the L&G Mastertrust from 1 January 2027. The process is automatic and you won’t need to do anything.

If you’re not paying into the Plan, we’ll continue to assess you for auto-enrolment. If you meet the eligibility criteria, you’ll be auto-enrolled into the L&G Mastertrust and you’ll then have the option to opt-out if you want. Even if you don’t meet the eligibility criteria, or have previously opted out, you can choose to join.

If the proposed changes go ahead, then you will be given the option to transfer your existing pension savings from the Plan to the L&G Mastertrust as part of a bulk transfer process if you wish to do so. For more information on the default investment strategy of the L&G Mastertrust, please see the Investment and Charges section. You’ll receive a communication separately after the end of the consultation, with further details around the transfer process.

No. The proposal relates only to a move from the Plan to the L&G Mastertrust. The amount that you are asked to pay and the corresponding Company contribution rates are not changing.

No. If the proposals go ahead, the L&G Mastertrust will be the Company’s pension arrangement. All ongoing contributions from you and the Company make in respect of service after 1 January 2027 will be paid to the L&G Mastertrust.

If you currently contribute to the Plan via Salary Exchange, then there will be no changes to how your pension contributions are deducted from your pay.

Salary Exchange is where a colleague contractually exchanges part of their salary for an equivalent employer contribution to the pension scheme. For more information about how Salary Exchange works and the possible effects, please contact the People Services Team at PeopleServicesEurope@debeersgroup.com  or visit the Government website at www.gov.uk/salary-sacrifice-and-the-effects-on-paye.

If you do not currently contribute to the Plan via Salary Exchange, then there will be a change in how your contributions are deducted as a result of the move to the L&G Mastertrust. These are currently deducted from your net (take home) pay, but will be deducted from your gross (pre-tax) pay in the L&G Mastertrust.

This is an administrative change only and means you will see your pension contribution deductions display differently on your payslips from 1 January 2027, however importantly, this will not affect the amount of contributions paid by you or the Company.

Under the L&G Mastertrust, if you’re a higher rate taxpayer, you won’t need to claim additional rate tax relief if you pay your contributions by deduction from gross pay or by Salary Exchange, as you will automatically receive your full rate of tax relief.  

You can find more information about differences between the methods of pension contribution deduction and tax relief in the Appendix.

If the proposals go ahead and you later wish to change how you make your payments, you can do so at any time after the consultation period has ended by contacting the People Services Team at PeopleServicesEurope@debeersgroup.com. 

On joining the L&G Mastertrust you would be automatically invested in the default investment strategy, which is the L&G Target Date Funds (TDFs).  The TDFs are designed to target the date (across five-year windows) that is most closely aligned with your selected retirement date.  For example, a member whose selected retirement age falls is in 2047 would invest in the 2045-50 Target Date Fund.

The TDFs adjust the way your savings are invested as you move closer to - and then into - retirement.  When you are a long way from accessing your retirement savings, emphasis is placed on higher risk assets (i.e. investing predominantly in growth assets) in search of long-term returns that exceed inflation. In the approach to retirement, the TDFs are progressively switched into assets that are aligned with retirement savings being taken flexibly, with an emphasis on drawdown. Please remember that your pension savings are invested, and their value can go down as well as up depending on how the investments perform.

L&G will continue to evolve the TDFs investment strategy over time to reflect the latest investment ideas, and the choices members make when accessing their savings.

The L&G TDFs have been reviewed by our pension advisers who view these positively. However, the TDFs may not be suitable for everyone, and you will be able to choose from a range of alternative investment options, should you wish.

Yes. Through the L&G Mastertrust you will have access to a range of investment options from which you can self-select.  This includes an alternative investment strategy, that works in a similar way to the TDFs but holds different types of assets, a Shariah focussed lifestyle investment option as well as a range of individual investment funds.

Find further details on the default investment solutions available via the L&G Mastertrust and the range of self-select options available in the Fund Centre. Information about each fund, as well as the charges that apply can be found in the fund fact sheets. You should read the fund fact sheets carefully in order to familiarise yourself with the risks associated with choosing a self-select strategy.

The charges you pay will also depend on how your pension savings are invested. For members invested in the L&G TDFs, the total member charge (known as a Total Expense Ratio or ‘TER’) will be 0.19% per annum.  This is made up of an administration charge (referred to as an Annual Management Charge or AMC) of 0.04% and a Fund Management Charge (or FMC) of 0.15%.  This means you’d pay £19 per £10,000 of the savings you have invested each year.

The FMC for other investment options available within the L&G Mastertrust will vary depending on the investment fund chosen and you should always refer to the most recent investment literature from L&G to find out what the charges are.  You can find details of the fund options available through the L&G Mastertrust and the FMCs that apply here in the Fund Centre. 

The simplest way to review your investment choices and make changes would be through the L&G online portal or via the L&G app.  Should the proposals go ahead, L&G will send you further details to help you register and login to your account.

There are no charges for switching between funds, however please note that the TER does vary between each of the fund options. You should read the fund fact sheets (available in the Fund Centre) carefully in order to familiarise yourself on the risks associated with choosing a self-select investment option.

It's a good idea to regularly review your investment choices to ensure they’re still suitable for your circumstances. The value of your investments may go down as well as up and is not guaranteed, so you could get back less than you invest.  It’s also important you understand past performance is not a guide to future returns.  

On your enrolment into the L&G Mastertrust, your retirement age would automatically be set at the default, which is 65. You will be able to amend your retirement age when you receive access to your online account. &G will provide more information on how to do this in due course, if the proposals go ahead.

If you have selected a different age in the Plan, then this would not carry across to the L&G Mastertrust.

No. You can take your retirement benefits at any point after age 55 which is currently the minimum age set by the Government (although you should be aware that this is increasing to age 57 from April 2028).

However, if you are invested in the default investment solution (the L&G TDFs), this may mean that the investments you hold are not aligned with your retirement choice. If you are planning to take your retirement benefits early you should always try to keep L&G up to date.

The L&G Mastertrust provides full flexibility in how you take your benefits.  You will have the option to take a tax-free lump sum – normally 25% of the value of your fund up to a limit of £268,275 – and can choose one (or a combination) of the following options for your remaining benefits.  Please note that all of these options will be subject to income tax.  

• Drawdown: a regular (or irregular) income from your account.  Your retirement savings will remain invested in the L&G Mastertrust and you will continue to benefit from the low TER.  There are no additional charges for accessing drawdown.
• Annuity: use your fund to purchase an annuity on the open market to provide you with a secure regular income for life.  Through the L&G Mastertrust you’ll have access to a whole of market annuity broking firm called Annuity Ready, who will help you secure the best deal.
• Lump Sum: a one-off lump sum payment covering the balance of your fund.  For example, if you elected to take your tax-free lump sum in full (25%), you can take a further 75% as a taxable lump sum.

Should this proposal go ahead, you will have access to an online retirement guidance tool to help you with your decisions as well as access to L&G’s specialist retirement helpdesk that can guide you through the process.  

If you are planning to access your retirement savings before the end of 2026 you should contact the current administrator of the Plan, Scottish Widows.  You can call Scottish Widows on 0345 755 6557 or you can email them on supportme@scottishwidows.co.uk.