The trustees of the Armfield pension scheme have approved commencement of the winding up of the scheme, Judges Scientific Plc has confirmed, with this process expected to take 12-18 months.

In its annual accounts, the group confirmed that the Armfield pension scheme, which was acquired with Armfield in 2015, was in a position of minimal surplus as at 31 December 2024.

The trustees also previously secured a £7m buy-in policy with Just Group in March 2024, covering payment of all future pensions due to the scheme's members.

This action formally commenced a process of transferring the future responsibility of the Armfield defined benefit (DB) pension scheme to the insurance company.

Building on this, the group confirmed that, in January 2025, the trustees of the Armfield pension scheme also approved commencement of the winding up of the scheme, a process that is expected to take 12-18 months before the DB scheme is officially no longer the responsibility of Armfield.

The small DB scheme has been closed to new members from 2001 and was closed to new accrual in 2006.

The latest triennial full actuarial valuation was performed in March 2023 and resulted in a surplus for the scheme with no further deficit reduction contributions being required. Previous annual contributions were £0.4m.

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