Part one of this blog covered the new requirement for company directors (including trustee directors) and persons with significant control to verify their identity with Companies House. They will be able to do this voluntarily from 25 March 2025 (the week during which national cocktail-making day, national cleaning week and international waffle day will be … Continue Reading
What will you be doing during the third week of March? According to a US website, there will be various celebrations underway. Perhaps you will be making the most of national cocktail-making day, or maybe national cleaning week will grab your attention. (Although, on a personal note, I am happy to say that it is … Continue Reading
I have been pondering the fact that we are coming up to a quarter of the way through the century. When Big Ben chimes in the new year, it will be 2025. How did that happen? And what has changed in the pensions industry so far this millennium?… Continue Reading
In recent years, The Pensions Regulator (“TPR”) has been steadfast in enforcing compliance among pension scheme trustees and employers, often issuing penalties for non-compliance. However, recent cases indicate that with a valid reason, it is possible to contest and even overturn penalties. Here, we examine three noteworthy tribunal decisions that shed light on the courts’ … Continue Reading
To what extent does your trustee board understand the various ways in which they might be protected if things go wrong and claims are made against them? It is a difficult topic to think about, as no trustee ever wants to be on the receiving end of a claim. If your trustee board has not … Continue Reading
Trustees of many defined benefit pension schemes are accelerating moves towards buyout, aided by recent market improvements. While the immediate focus may be on completing the buyout, trustees should plan ahead for the scheme wind up and consider how they will be protected if existing exoneration and indemnity provisions fall away. Trustees will want to … Continue Reading
Many pension scheme trustees and employers aspire to undertake a risk transfer transaction, typically an insurance company buy-out for defined benefit (DB) schemes or a transfer to a master trust for defined contribution (DC) schemes. In each case, this will ultimately herald the termination of the pension scheme and an end to all governance systems. … Continue Reading
Questions around the “end game” for DB schemes dominate the pensions press at the moment. The amount of tax due on authorised surplus payments to employers reduced from 35% to 25% from 6 April 2024 and we await the outcome of a government consultation on options for DB schemes (which includes changing some of the … Continue Reading
Have you ever asked a seemingly straightforward question, only to be met with an answer that starts with “Well, it depends…..”? This can be a touch irritating. However, it may be the first part of the answer given to trustees who ask for advice on what aspects of the Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) general code of … Continue Reading
Welcome to our new blog series exploring the various ingredients that go into a successful general code of practice compliance programme. We have been cooking up a range of strategies over the last couple of years and are now happy to share our recipe for success! Background The general code sets very high standards … Continue Reading
As a contentious lawyer, I tend not to be involved in pensions issues when everything is going smoothly – my phone normally rings when trustees or employers are facing a problem of reasonable magnitude. I often wish that I had been involved at an earlier stage, at the point that the problem was (or could … Continue Reading
The rugby Six Nations Championship has been a recent topic of conversation. But do you know how long pensions dashboards have been a topic of conversation? Almost 10 years – ever since the issue was raised in a report by the Financial Conduct Authority in December 2014! We are now about to witness kick-off as … Continue Reading
When The News Broke… Last Wednesday I was on a Teams call with a client discussing some forthcoming cyber security training when a news alert flashed up. I had to interrupt – “Oh gosh, the general code is finally out!” We shared a brief silence, each mentally reviewing our to do lists and working out … Continue Reading
Significant market and interest rate movements over recent years have seen funding positions improve for many defined benefit pension plans across the UK, and in a lot of cases this has resulted in pension plans finding themselves with an unexpected surplus. If sponsors and trustees are not anticipating a surplus, this can lead to uncertainty … Continue Reading
It can’t be long before someone starts discussing LDI-Gate (the turmoil in the gilts market following the Government’s September mini budget), looking for parties to blame. There have been rumours about potential claims against liability driven investment (“LDI”) managers and investment consultants, and pensions celebrities have been summoned to appear before parliamentary select committees to … Continue Reading
According to complaints filed with Action Fraud, more than £30 million has been lost to pension scammers since 2017. All types of pension pots are targeted, with some individual savers losing hundreds of thousands of pounds. Given the current cost of living crisis, more people might feel tempted to access their pension savings, making them … Continue Reading
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is not pulling any punches in its latest messaging around pensions dashboards. The Deadline campaign, launched on 22 June 2022, follows research conducted by TPR revealing that insufficient progress has been made by schemes in preparing for pensions dashboards and moving towards the level of digitalisation of member records that will … Continue Reading
On 28 April 2022, at 4:35 pm we issued legal advice to our client regarding the GMP conversion exercise for two schemes, along with final versions of the deed of amendment to bring into effect GMP conversion; the Conversion Date was set for 1 May 2022. At 4:43 pm, we get an e-mail from our … Continue Reading
Once in a while trustees get frustrated with what the law appears to tell them is their fiduciary duty. If they can afford it, trustees can resolve such ambiguities or uncertainty by getting a ruling from the courts as to how to interpret their duties. This is what two sets of charitable trustees recently did … Continue Reading
From memory, the term “good governance” started to be widely used in the pensions industry at around the same time that the Pensions Act 2004 came into force. At first, it was a bit of a nebulous concept that could have been loosely described as 1. Complying with the requirements and expectations of The (then … Continue Reading
Background In February 2022 the UK Government unveiled its long-awaited plans to improve corporate transparency and reform the company register framework, in a move widely regarded as having been accelerated (at least in part) in response to the conflict in Ukraine. In this blog, we look at how the changes could affect UK pension scheme … Continue Reading
As a consumer, I am a big fan of the concept of dashboards. A brilliant idea. As a lawyer advising pension plan trustees, I am looking forward to helping my clients to make them a reality. Until now, dashboards have felt a long way off in the future and there has been no shortage of … Continue Reading
Today, 28 January, is international “data protection day” (as explained on Wikipedia). Its purpose is to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practice; there is no suggestion that organisations (including pension schemes) can ignore data protection the other 364 days of the year! Here in the UK, many clients will remember the rush to get … Continue Reading
The new Pension Schemes Act 2021 paved the way for potential changes to the notifiable events framework which is intended to give The Pensions Regulator (TPR) early warning of possible calls on the Pension Protection Fund. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now issued draft regulations (Draft Regulations) and consulted on proposed changes … Continue Reading
