25 Provisions

National
National
Share insurance on
Share insurance on
option Onerous share-based 2009 option Onerous share-based 2008
liability contract payments Total liability contract payments Total
£m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
Group
At 1st January 0.5 0.6 0.3 1.4 2.1 0.7 0.5 3.3
Provided/(released) in the
income statement 1.6 0.3 1.9 (1.6) (1.6)
Utilised in year (0.1) (0.1) (0.2) (0.1) (0.2) (0.3)
At 31st December 2.1 0.5 0.5 3.1 0.5 0.6 0.3 1.4

Due within one year 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2
Due after one year 2.1 0.4 0.4 2.9 0.5 0.5 0.2 1.2
2.1 0.5 0.5 3.1 0.5 0.6 0.3 1.4

Company
At 1st January 0.6 0.3 0.9 0.7 0.5 1.2
Provided in the income statement 0.3 0.3
Utilised in year (0.1) (0.1) (0.2) (0.1) (0.2) (0.3)
At 31st December 0.5 0.5 1.0 0.6 0.3 0.9

Due within one year 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.2
Due after one year 0.4 0.4 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.7
0.5 0.5 1.0 0.6 0.3 0.9

National insurance is payable on gains made by employees on the exercise of share-based payments granted to them. The eventual liability to national insurance is dependent on:

  • the market price of the company’s shares at the date of exercise;
  • the number of equity instruments that will be exercised; and
  • the prevailing rate of national insurance at the date of exercise.

The onerous contract relates to the excess of rent payable over rent receivable on a lease at the group’s previous head office which expires in 2014 and reflects the discounted present value of future net payments under that lease.

A provision is made for the potential liability for cash-settled share options based on the valuation carried out at each balance sheet date (see note 13).