Constitution
The Scheme is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) Scheme for benefits accrued from 1 January 2008, and also contains the legacy benefits of a number of former Final Salary pension arrangements.   

The Trustee of the Scheme is Thales Pension Trustees Ltd, a Trustee Company set up for this express purpose.  The Trustee Company has 12 Directors, 6 appointed by the Company and 6 appointed by the Membership.   The Scheme is split into two sections. Each section is managed effectively as a separate pension scheme. The sections were constituted from the legacy schemes at the scheme merger in June 2008 as follows:

SECTION 1
Racal Group Staff Pension & Life Assurance Scheme
Racal-Decca Staff Pension & Life Assurance Scheme
Racal Group Executive Manager & Senior Manager Pension Scheme
Racal Group Executive Pension Plan
Thales Optronics Pension Scheme 

SECTION 2
The W Vinten Pension Scheme
The Thomson Pension Plan
The Thomson Retirement Benefits Scheme
The Avimo Pension Scheme

The Trustee board meets at least quarterly and in addition the Trustee has delegated some powers to a number of sub comittees:

Sub-Committees
Although the Trustee Board meet as a whole, they also divide themselves into 3 specialist sub-committee’s who all report into the main board:-   

OPERATIONS SUB-COMMITTEE – This sub-committee looks after the day to day operation of the scheme, including scheme administration.  They also consider whether the scheme is being run in accordance with agreed procedures, and ensure that all service providers are meeting agreed service targets. This sub-committee also has delegated authority to exercise trustee discretion with regards to death and ill-health cases and to adjudicate on member complaints through the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP). 

GOVERNANCE SUB-COMMITTEE – This sub-committee ensures that the Scheme operates in line with its governing documents, and sets policy for the Scheme. In addition, the sub-committee is responsible for overseeing the annual scheme audit. INVESTMENT SUB-COMMITTEE – This sub-committee looks after the Scheme’s investments, including reviewing investment manager performance, considering new types of investment opportunity, and considering risk factors which might affect future investment performance.