Rolls-Royce agrees £4.3bn UK pension scheme sale

Rolls-Royce has agreed a deal worth £4.3 billion for the sale of its UK pension scheme as part of ongoing efforts to simplify the business.

The engineering giant, which has its civil aerospace and defence businesses in Derby, has agreed the deal with the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).

The deal is designed to fully insure benefits payable from the Rolls-Royce UK Pension Fund, providing security for the defined benefit scheme’s 36,000 members.

The transaction involves the final defined benefit pension scheme backed by Rolls-Royce in the UK.

The buy-in includes the transfer of assets in exchange for an insurance arrangement that offsets liabilities.

It has been secured in anticipation of a full buyout – in which liabilities and management of benefits are transferred.

Liz Airey, Rolls-Royce Pension Fund’s chair of trustees, said: “This is a landmark agreement that will result in increased certainty and security for Rolls-Royce pension scheme members.

“In PIC, we have found a partner who will also be able to maintain the high levels of customer service that our members deserve.”

Rolls-Royce’s UK defined contribution scheme, the Rolls-Royce Retirement Savings Trust, is unaffected.

Helen McCabe, chief financial officer at Rolls-Royce, said: “This is a win-win for all our stakeholders.

“We are proud to have been able to fully fund and secure the pension promises made to colleagues, former colleagues and their families.

“This deal is also another step on our journey towards simplifying Rolls-Royce.”

At the end of last month, Rolls-Royce published a stellar set of half-year results, with profits and revenue soaring, driven by the performance of its civil aerospace business.

The firm posted underlying profit for the first six months of 2025 up 50% to £1.7 billion and revenue of just over £9 billion.

The performance led to Rolls-Royce upgrading its full-year profit forecast to between £3.1 billion and £3.3 billion.

At the time, Tufan Erginbilgic, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, said the firm’s “multi-year transformation” was “continuing to deliver”.