Note 5 – Payroll costs and employees

a) Payroll costs

	2005   £m	2004 (restated) £m	2003 (restated) £m
Wages and salaries	990	1,050	1,161
Social security costs	70	79	84
Other pension costs	142	150	117
	1,202	1,279	1,362
Less: Amounts capitalised	(192)	(175)	(158)
Payroll costs included in replacement expenditure	(69)	(59)	(60)
	941	1,045	1,144

b) Number of employees

	31 March 2005 Number	Average 2005 Number	Average 2004 Number	Average 2003 Number
UK	15,841	15,931	16,241	18,399
US	8,554	8,663	9,402	10,120
Rest of the World	11	13	10	14
Continuing operations	24,406	24,607	25,653	28,533
Discontinued operations	–	–	5	407
	24,406	24,607	25,658	28,940

The vast majority of employees in:

–	the US are either directly or indirectly employed in the transmission and distribution of electricity or the distribution of gas.
–	the UK are either directly or indirectly employed in the transmission and distribution of gas or the transmission of electricity. At 31 March 2005, 2,540 employees were employed in other businesses, of which 733 were in the Wireless infrastructure segment.

In addition to the payroll costs shown above, there were restructuring costs of £210m (2004: £249m; 2003: £209m), primarily in respect of severance costs, which have been included as part of restructuring costs within other operating charges – exceptional items.

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