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.

Pension liabilities

The 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.

In 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 plans

Abellio 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 plans

The following assumptions were used for determining the pension liabilities and the pension assets (based on a weighted average):

• *Mortality table: 2013 SFO valuation (Greater Anglia and ScotRail) and S1NA tables with CMI 2013 projections (Abellio Holdings) plus long term expectation + 1.25%.

Breakdown

The breakdown of the pension liabilities is as follows:

Sensitivity analysis

Reasonably 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:

A 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.

Movement

The changes in the pension assets and liabilities are as follows:

Breakdown of plan assets

The breakdown of the plan assets is as follows:

Pension costs recognised in the income statement

Unrealised actuarial gains and losses

The Group expects to recognise pension costs amounting to €47 million relating the above-mentioned defined benefit plans in 2017.

Other non-current employee benefits

This 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:

The current portion of this provision is €4 million.

The sensitivities are as follows: