Payers would need to develop new actuarial assumptions on which to base their reimbursement models.

They do list three actuarial assumptions in the footnotes of their annual reports, but retirement age is not among them.

The discount rate is the most powerful of all the actuarial assumptions used in pension calculations.

But a spokesman said the actuarial assumptions remain conservative.

Board members said they were aware that those values had also come under fire, because they can be based on questionable actuarial assumptions.

It has also produced, for the first time, real figures on the cost of workers' compensation, as opposed to actuarial assumptions.

When small changes in actuarial assumptions are applied to such huge plans, the resulting numbers can significantly affect earnings.

This requires the use of actuarial assumptions of interest rates, salary growth and mortality.

Its actuarial assumption, however, is 8.5 percent - which means it should have money to spare.

In each case the actuarial assumptions agreed can materially affect the size of the transfer value.