(4) Staff costs

The cost of pension benefits was €151 million (previous year: €17 million), consisting of €164 million in current service cost Glossary (previous year: €178 million), and amortization of past service cost of -€13 million (previous year: -€161 million).

Converted to full-time positions, the RWE Group’s average personnel headcount (excluding American Water) amounted to 65,254 (previous year: 63,054). Part-time and fixed-term employment relationships are included in accordance with the ratio of the part-time work or the duration of the employment to the annual employment time. Of the total average personnel headcount, 51,930 were staff covered by collective or other agreements (previous year: 51,340) and 13,324 were staff who were not covered by collective agreements (previous year: 11,714). In addition, on average the Group employed 2,688 trainees (previous year: 2,591).

An increase of €73 million in staff costs is attributable to changes in the scope of consolidation.