You'll forgive me if I haven't read your post in great depth, but from what I have deduced your experience of obtaining and acting upon a CETV is fairly typical of many schemes. Let me assure you schemes love, absolutely LOVE, to have members transfer out. As per my previous post the sponsors of DB schemes hate unknown quantities and risks and future pension liabilities is high up on their list especially so if their scheme is underfunded by any measure. All the acts we have seen in recent years (scheme closure to future accrual, members transferring out - in many cases bumping up their CETV by a fair wad to get them to go) have all been designed to crystallise future funding liabilities.
It is not unusual at all for sponsoring employers to increase a CETV amount to act as a carrot to persuade members to further consider transferring their money out.
But what is transferred out? Assuming we lived in 'ordinary times', if you asked for a CETV the scheme will provide you with a figure and it will be a precise mathematical figure calculated strictly in line with the rules of the scheme. But, and this is important, most schemes will have a proviso in their rules that this figure can be reduced by the equivalent amount as the unfunding of the scheme. So, if say the scheme is underfunded on an on-going basis by say 10% then the CETV figure will be reduced by the same amount. So if your 'raw' CETV figure was £200k it would be reduced to £180k in my scenario.You will see that it has to be like that to protect the financial interests of the members who remain in the scheme. You cannot have the situation where members get 'cold feet' about the viability of their scheme and so ask for a CETV figure, get quoted a nice big number, and let them transfer it all out - this could be financially devastating for the members of the scheme who stay put.
What can happen is that the employer may agree to top up the quoted CETV figure to it's original amount and, importantly, the employer will have to transfer that amount directly into the coffers of the pension scheme. It’s not unusual for Employers to cease doing this as it generally forms an agreement between the scheme and the employer which does not form part of the rules of the scheme and it can be rescinded at a moments notice.
Is BA (or IAG, I don't know the company structures) going to top up CETV's under the current financial situation? A question for others.
Last edited by yellowtriumph; 1st Oct 2020 at 14:43.