Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
The group has established a defined contributions pension scheme in which the company participates. The pension cost charge for the year represents contributions payable by the company to the scheme and amount to £7,063 (2024: £7,888).
The company is also a member of a group wide pension scheme providing benefits based on final pensionable pay. Because the company is unable to identify its share of the scheme assets and liabilities on a consistent and reasonable basis, as permitted by FRS102 Retirement Benefits', The scheme has been accounted for, in these financial statements as if the scheme was a defined contributions scheme. At the year end the surplus in the scheme was £2,601,000 (2025: amended surplus £1,951,000).
The latest full actuarial valuation was carried out at 5 April 2023 and was updated for FRS102 purposes to 30 September 2025 by a qualified independent actuary. The total contributions for the year were nil (2024: £41,460) and no contributions are expected in the next financial year.
Disclosures of the scheme is provided in the financial statements of John Livingston & Sons Limited.