With the Pension Schemes Bill on its way in “late Spring”, now might be a good time for trustees to take stock of their trustee agendas and to brush off some items that may have been left to gather dust. A recent Pensions Ombudsman determination serves as a useful reminder that, for most schemes, GMP … Continue Reading
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
It’s Yorkshire Day on 1 August and, when I was thinking about this blog, the stereotype of a stingy Yorkshireman came to mind. Not because I think Yorkshire folk are actually stingy. I don’t! I was wondering whether TPR’s powers granted under the Pension Schemes Act 2021 (PSA 21) have made a difference, or whether … Continue Reading
A key deadline is looming under the 2022 Dashboards Regulations, and it is not your pension scheme’s “connect by” date, nor is it the ultimate statutory connection deadline of 31 October 2026. Pension schemes have until 8 August 2024 to apply to extend their deadline for connecting to the pensions dashboards infrastructure beyond the statutory … Continue Reading
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is never out of the news for long. With manifestos from the Lib Dems and Labour containing pledges around pension funds being required to align with the Paris Agreement goals, and the Green Party’s manifesto containing a pledge to require the removal of fossil fuel assets from investment portfolios, now … Continue Reading
Changes are afoot to the statutory regime governing special administrations for regulated water companies (the SAR) following the publication of a suite of new legislation. Impact of the changes on pension trustees Further details of the changes are set out in a blog post by restructuring colleagues Helena Clarke and Charlotte Moller. Helena and Charlotte note … Continue Reading
The investigations into Odey Asset Management and its founder, Crispin Odey, which are currently capturing the headlines in the financial press, tell a familiar story of how fast a financial institution can fall from grace when disaster strikes. Institutional investors (and by extension some retail funds that had been invested in Odey’s strategies) have already … Continue Reading
“The Brexit Freedoms Bill will enable the UK government to remove years of burdensome EU regulation in favour of a more agile, home-grown regulatory approach that benefits people and businesses across the UK”. (Government press release, 22 September 2022) “This has nothing to do with the merits of Brexit. It’s about how we make law … Continue Reading
Since 6 April 2018 companies have been unable to grant new EMI options, because the existing EU state aid approval expired without fresh approval having been received. So there has been much excitement today at the news that the EU Commission has now given state aid approval, and companies can now grant new EMI options. … Continue Reading
The collapse of Carillion has raised many issues relating to public procurement, the actions of the board and the role of the auditors. But a press release by the Institute of Directors suggesting that in 2016 Carillion relaxed the clawback conditions that applied to bonuses has raised questions over remuneration governance. The change seems to … Continue Reading
Over one in five companies in the FTSE All Share index received at least 20% shareholder votes against a resolution at their 2017 AGM, or chose to withdraw a resolution. And executive pay remains a key issue for investors, with 38% of resolutions that in 2017 received significant votes against or were withdrawn related to … Continue Reading
The Financial Reporting Council has published for consultation its review of the UK Corporate Governance Code. This follows a fundamental review, with the proposed revised Code being a slim shadow of its former self (13 pages instead of 32). The FRC describes the result as “shortened and sharpened” but the outcome isn’t radical, with the … Continue Reading
Football, football teams, footballers, footballer’s pay… a comprehensive review of the case law on the taxation of termination payments… this one has got it all! The match… the case (HM Revenue & Customs v Tottenham Hotspur Limited) concerns termination payments made to Peter Crouch and Wilson Palacios. The facts are relatively straightforward. Both player’s contracts with Tottenham … Continue Reading
It’s a while since we last commented on VAT on pensions but we return with some good news which HMRC have quietly slipped out in updated content to the VAT Manual. Back in 2014, following the PPG case, HMRC proposed withdrawing their practice of allowing employers to recover VAT on charges on administration costs for … Continue Reading
The Investment Association (IA) has published its annual letter to Remuneration Committee chairs and updated its Principles of Remuneration (the “Principles”), and many companies will need to take action before their 2018 AGM. The IA is encouraging voluntary disclosure of CEO pay ratios in 2018 Directors’ Remuneration Reports, has introduced a new requirement to defer … Continue Reading
With a whirlwind of changes enforced in the last seven years the state pension age, which remained unchanged from the 1940s until 2010, is yet again in for a shake-up. On 18 July, David Gauke, Work and Pensions secretary announced plans to bring forward the increase in state pension age to 68 – this will … Continue Reading
With all the media frenzy over whether Theresa May has delivered on her (perhaps overly ambitious) promises on corporate governance reform, it is easy to miss the substance of what the Government has just announced. Although there are no bold new initiatives, there are plenty of changes that are designed to deliver nudges to corporate … Continue Reading
It is estimated that only around 28% of the EU’s 243 million citizens aged 25 to 59 years are currently saving into a pension. The European Commission considers that offering an alternative form of pensions vehicle will drive a change in behaviour. To this end, on 29 June, the European Commission proposed Regulations setting out … Continue Reading
In May we took the plunge and blogged about the forthcoming money laundering regulations (which seemed to have gone largely unnoticed until that point). We highlighted some difficulties with the legislation and that it wasn’t entirely clear how they would apply to occupational pension plans. Well, the final form regulations have arrived. They came into force … Continue Reading
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published its final Report on its asset management market study yesterday. Key findings include: Asset management – the report finds evidence of weak price competition and recommends a number of remedial strategies, including improved transparency and an extension of the senior managers’ regime. However, the FCA has rejected the idea of … Continue Reading
The UK High Court has approved an application for judicial review brought by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Limited against the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in a case which contains some fascinating principles of constitutional law.… Continue Reading
So now we know, BA is not going to let things rest following its defeat in one of the biggest, most high profile and lengthy pensions cases in recent years. It is has been reported that it has sought and been granted leave to appeal. This was yet another case involving questions about indexation of … Continue Reading
Age discrimination is a notoriously difficult area to address in the context of pension plans (which, by their very nature, provide benefits by reference to the age of an individual). Two recent UK employment tribunal decisions have put age discrimination into the spotlight – with very different outcomes.… Continue Reading
