24. Employee benefits The non-current employee benefits comprise:other non-current employee benefits, including long-service awards;obligations entailed by occupational disability and supplements to social security payments;obligations in connection with defined benefit pension plans.(in millions of euros)December 31, 2016December 31, 2015Defined benefit plans22Other long-term employee benefits2928Total3130Pension liabilitiesThe staff of the NS Group companies are covered by the pension plans of the following pension funds. The table also shows the numbers of active members.(number participants)December 31, 2016December 31, 2015Railway pensionfund16,51416,073Industry pensionfund Horeca & Catering2,7192,835Industry pensionfund provision company991670Additional pensionfund Servex 149151ScotRail4,6654,660Greater Anglia2,3022,191Abellio Transport Holdings17078Abellio London & Surrey2,1201,918Qbuzz1,8291,993In cases where an employee is a member of an industry pension fund, the NS Group companies have no obligation to pay supplementary contributions in the event of a deficit in that industry pension fund, other than payment of future contributions. Equally, the NS group companies have no claim to any surpluses in the funds. Consequently, these pension plans have here been accounted for in these financial statements as defined contribution plans, as required by IFRS.The total value of the pension contribution payments charged to the income account in 2016 was €131 million (2015: €96 million). Spoorwegpensioenfonds pension plan (defined contribution plan)The pension plan for the railway industry is administered by Spoorwegpensioenfonds. The plan qualifies for recognition in the financial statements as a defined contribution plan. The contribution agreed with SPF is a fixed annual contribution agreed in advance and expressed as a percentage of the pensionable earnings. In 2016 Ns paid the nominal pension premium of 24% to the pension fund. Two-thirds of the pension contributions paid to Spoorwegpensioenfonds are at the expense of the company and one-third at the expense of the employees. After payment of the agreed contribution, the company has no obligation to pay additional amounts should there be a deficit in the pension fund. The actuarial risks and investment risks are borne by the pension fund and its members. The pension costs up to 2035 are partly offset by the release of the lump sum payment for wage increases (see note 22).At the end of 2015, the Group made new agreements with the pension fund for dealing with the contribution build-up that came into effect from 1 January 2016. This led to a receivable payable by Spoorwegpensioenfonds of about €240 million that will be paid in two years’ time. The employees’ part of the contribution build-up (one third of the amount) is included as a debt and will be settled with the employees over the next few years up to and including 2022. The employer’s part of the contribution build-up (two thirds of the amount) has been added to the lump sum payment for wage increases and will be credited to the pension costs up to 2035. There is a defined contribution plan for Abellio London & Surrey, Qbuzz and the Servex supplementary pension scheme.Defined benefit plansAbellio Greater Anglia, Abellio ScotRail and Abellio Transport Holdings have arranged for a pension for their staff through the UK Railways Pension Scheme. The fund in question can be considered as a company pension fund and the pension plan as a defined benefit plan.Every company is a designated employer for one or more cost-sharing agreements within the Railways Pension Scheme. Such cost-sharing agreements are geared to a lifelong pension. The size of the pension depends on how long an employee was an active member of the pension plan and on their salary when leaving the plan (final-salary plan).Because of the character of the cost-sharing agreements, the amounts payable to cover both the costs of the accrued pension entitlements and any shortfall between the value of the assets and the value of the pension liabilities are borne jointly by the employer and the contributing members in a ratio of 60% to 40% respectively. As a consequence, the employer recognises 60% of the total pension costs and pension liabilities in the balance sheet. The Railways Pension Scheme is administered by the Trustee, the Railways Pension Trustee Company Limited. The plan’s assets are invested in investment funds, each with a different risk and return profile.The pension liabilities and the pension assets are based on actuarial calculations that were performed for the situation on 31 December. At year-end 2016, the net liabilities of Abellio Transport Holdings Limited were €2 million (€2 million in 2015). The average term for the pension liabilities is about 24 years.To reflect the nature of the concession, the shortfall between the pension liabilities and the pension assets for Abellio Greater Anglia and Abellio ScotRail have been included in ‘Non-current liabilities’ to the extent that they concern the concession period. The remaining amount at the end of the concession period is not recognised in the balance sheet because it will constitute part of the debts of the following concession holder.The net liabilities were zero at year-end 2016 (zero at year-end 2015). The average term for both companies’ pension liabilities is about 20 years.Basic assumptions for defined benefit plansThe following assumptions were used for determining the pension liabilities and the pension assets (based on a weighted average): December 31, 2016December 31, 2015Discountrate2.9%3.8%Increase of salaries2.7%3.4%Increase of pension benefits2.1%2.1%Inflation3.2%3.1%*Mortality table: 2013 SFO valuation (Greater Anglia and ScotRail) and S1NA tables with CMI 2013 projections (Abellio Holdings) plus long term expectation + 1.25%.BreakdownThe breakdown of the pension liabilities is as follows:(in millions of euros)December 31, 2016December 31, 2015Fair value of plan assets1,1931,221Defined benefit obligations1,7211,700Deficit528479Members' share of deficit-211-192Deficit at the end of the concessionary-315-285Write-down of pension surplus- - Group's commitments concerning franchise period22Sensitivity analysisReasonably likely changes in one of the relevant actuarial assumptions on the balance sheet date while keeping all other assumptions constant would have the following effect on the gross liability pursuant to the defined benefit entitlements:(change of 0.25%) (in millions of euros)IncreaseDecreaseDiscountrate-8488Inflation89-85Future salary increase31-31A change in life expectancy of one year would lead to a change in the gross liability of about €43 million (December 31, 2015 : €43 million).The impact that these changes would have on the Group’s net liabilities during the concession period is expected to be limited given the transfer of liabilities at the end of the Greater Anglia concession.MovementThe changes in the pension assets and liabilities are as follows:(in millions of euros)20162015Plan assets as at 1 January1,221460Addion new fund437735Interest income4036Pension contributions3844Pension benefits paid-75-30Administration expenses-5-5Return on plan assets, excluding interest income141-9Reduction participants in the fund-437-36Exchange rate gains and losses-16726Plan assets as at 31 December1,1931,221 Defined benefit obligations as at 1 January1,700722Addion new fund6981,048Pension costs6466Interest expenses5554Pension benefits paid-75-30Net actuarial gain or loss210-140Reduction participants in the fund-698-61Exchange rate gains and losses-23341Defined benefit obligations as at 31 December1,7211,700Breakdown of plan assetsThe breakdown of the plan assets is as follows:(in millions of euros)December 31, 2016December 31, 2015Shares722769Fixed-income securities14880Property121150Cash146134Other5688Total1,1931,221Pension costs recognised in the income statement(in millions of euros)20162015Pension costs3841Interest expenses- - Administration expenses33Total4144Unrealised actuarial gains and losses(in millions of euros)20162015Net actuarial gain or loss -Demographic assumptions- -6 -Financial assumptions-244145 -Experience adjustments3525Return on plan assets, excluding interest income141-9Franchise adjustment58-78Changes in members' share23-61Total1316The Group expects to recognise pension costs amounting to €47 million relating the above-mentioned defined benefit plans in 2017.Other non-current employee benefitsThis includes long-service obligations. The AG2016 mortality table is used for the calculation of the long-service obligations.The changes in the provision were as follows:(in millions of euros)20162015Long-service award obligation as at 1 January2831Payments-4-3Actuarial gains and losses2-1Accrued interest31Long-service award obligation as at 31 December2928The current portion of this provision is €4 million.The sensitivities are as follows:Discounting (-0.5%)4.4%4.1%Total wage increase (-0.5%)-4.1%-3.8%Careeropportunities (+25%)2.8%2.6%Resignation probability (+25%)-4.7%-4.4%