Trustee duties

The Trustee has a number of responsibilities and must always act in the best interest of ALL the Scheme's beneficiaries. This includes deferred members, pensioners and beneficiaries, as well as active members (current employees). Specifically, the Trustee's main responsibility is "to pay all of the benefits as they fall due under the Scheme, in accordance with the Trust Deed and Rules".  However, in addition, the Trustee:

• must understand and comply with the provisions of the Trust Deed (which is the legal basis for the Scheme and how it works);
• should be a prudent man or woman of business;
• may not profit from their position;
• must understand issues concerning funding of the Scheme, investments of the Scheme and risk assessment;
• must invest the contributions of members and the sponsoring company (British Telecommunications plc) in an appropriate manner;
• must appoint professional advisers to assist in their management of the Scheme (e.g., an actuary, etc.);
• may delegate day-to-day management of the Scheme as appropriate to ensure effective administration; and
• must exercise their discretion where benefits may need to be decided.

Keeping you informed

The Trustee will normally send Active Members a benefit statement every year giving details of your projected future benefits. Deferred members are usually sent a statement each year showing the current value of their deferred benefits. All members of the Scheme are sent a summary of the Scheme's annual Report and Accounts.

The Trustee's full Annual Report and Accounts includes details of the Scheme's general progress and investment information.

The most recently published editions of the summary and full versions of the Scheme's Annual Report and Accounts are available to view or download through this website on the 'Scheme Report and Accounts' page of the document library.