Past winners of the Best De-Risking Strategy prize at the Financial News Pensions Awards have been companies that have comprehensively dealt with the financial risks in their schemes. This year’s winner was a little different.

The BT Pension Scheme has the largest liabilities in the UK, last actuarially valued in June 2013 at £46.5 billion. With a liability this size, BT is not likely to be able to pay an insurance group to take its whole scheme on, as others have done. Instead, it has to pursue alternative approaches, such as changing the nature of its liability into something more easily hedgeable.