Is my maritime pension performing as well as it should?

I was interested to read in the Spring 2026 Telegraph magazine that a Lloyd's Register pensioner had seen his pension increase over a 10-year period by under £300.

My gross pension with MNOPF has increased over the period from 5 April 2000 to 5 April 2025 by £431.06, an average of £17.24 per year over 25 years. I would be interested in your comments on our own pension's performance.

Les Ellis

Nautilus deputy general secretary Olu Tunde responds: Thank you for your letter on a subject that will no doubt be of interest to other Nautilus members.

It is difficult to comment on your pension without knowing the full details of the benefits you receive. Since you have been receiving very modest increases it is likely that a small element of your pension is in respect of pensionable service after 5 April 1997 and/or Guaranteed Minimum Pension accrued after 5 April 1988.

If most of your pension is derived from service before 5 April 1997 then this part would only increase if the Trustee was able to grant a discretionary increase, and whilst the MNOPF Trustee sympathises with your financial situation and the impact of inflation on your pension, it is the Trustee’s responsibility to provide benefits in accordance with the MNOPF Trust Deed and Rules. This states that any increases to any pre-1997 pension are at the discretion of the Trustee, having taken advice from the MNOPF’s actuary. Given that the fund has had over £900m of deficits declared since the 2003 actuarial valuation, the Trustee, acting on the advice of the actuary, has not exercised its discretion to increase pensions in payment but rather worked hard to eradicate the deficit, thereby safeguarding the pension promise originally made by the employers when members were contributing.

It is also the Trustee’s responsibility to safeguard the ongoing payment of your pension, and whilst they could direct the investment managers to take additional investment risk, to try to achieve greater returns and thus the potential for future pension increases, this additional risk could also jeopardise the ongoing payment of existing pension payments if, for example, investment returns were poor. The Trustee has to strike a balance between security and increases, and they do not apologise for prioritising security as that is clearly most appropriate for the vast majority of members.

I can assure you that the Trustee regularly reviews the position on pension increases and will advise members should the fund be able to offer an increase in the future.