News & Events
News & Events
Lydia Seymour recently acted for the successful Respondent in CRAFT v Pope & Others [2022] EWCA Civ 22, which considered the extent to which a company could subsequently challenge the decisions of sole Directors and Members to award themselves company property. CRAFT brought claims for breach of directors’ duties and breach of fiduciary duty against its former directors/members who had awarded themselves company property in circumstances in which the company’s constitution prevented distribution of its assets. The Defendants had asserted that they could not be in breach of any duty to the company because the interests of the company should be equated to the interests of the sole members/directors, and further that the company could not bring any claim in…
News 9 Feb, 2022
Daniel Barnett will be holding 30 employment law webinars over 3 weeks from 1st – 19th March 2021 to raise £30,000 for the Free Representation Unit. Daniel Barnett’s webinars will raise funds for the FRU, which has been providing representation in social security and employment tribunals for those who are not eligible for legal aid and cannot afford legal fees since 1972. Our members will be joining Daniel’s webinars to discuss the following topics: Health and Safety with Gus Baker Monday 1 March 2021 at 3:30pm ACAS Early Conciliation with Andrew Short QC Thursday 4 March 2021 at 3:30pm Employee Data, Monitoring and Privacy with Jeremy Scott-Joynt Friday 5 March 2021 at 9:30am Changing Terms and Conditions with Lydia Seymour Monday…
News 2 Mar, 2021
Andrew Short QC and Lydia Seymour, instructed by Walkers Solicitors, have successfully resisted an appeal in the EAT by various Fire and Rescue Authorities (FRAs) who had argued that they should not be liable for age discrimination claims from firefighters on the basis that they had been “acting pursuant to an enactment”. The appeal was related to the case of Secretary of State for the Home Department & others v Sargeant [2019] EWCA Civ 2844; [2019] ICR 1489, in which Andrew and Lydia acted for over 6,000 firefighters who claimed that the decision to exclude them from their pension scheme in circumstances in which their older colleagues were allowed to remain in them, was age discrimination. Those claims were upheld…
News 16 Feb, 2021
Outer Temple Chambers collaborated with Richard Gibson of Barnett Waddingham LLP to look at the current and future actuarial and legal landscape of inflation. Watch the recorded webinar here. What is the outlook for inflation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown and the various government support schemes for businesses? Will there be renewed pressure on schemes to explore options to switch out of RPI-based escalation? A run of cases in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court since 2012 have confirmed that in principle scheme powers may be available to switch from RPI to CPI, following the lead taken by the State schemes (and the statutory minima for revaluation and LPI increases) in 2010. But these…
Webinars & Recordings 28 Jul, 2020
Outer Temple invites you to a multi-disciplinary webinar on the courts’ recent wrestles with RPI, with Lydia Seymour, David Grant, Philip Stear, Nicholas Hill and Richard Gibson. What is the outlook for inflation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown and the various government support schemes for businesses? Will there be renewed pressure on schemes to explore options to switch out of RPI-based escalation? A run of cases in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court since 2012 have confirmed that in principle scheme powers may be available to switch from RPI to CPI, following the lead taken by the State schemes (and the statutory minima for revaluation and LPI increases) in 2010. But these decisions have also suggested…
Events 8 Jul, 2020
Lydia Seymour presents an Employment Law Webinar on Pension claims in the Employment Tribunal. As part of the 28 barristers – 14 day Employment Law Series, Lydia Seymour presents a Q&A Webinar on Pension claims in the Employment Tribunal. Lydia recently presented this webinar in a series of employment law seminars put together by Outer Temple’s Daniel Barnett. In this webinar Lydia Seymour looks at pensions cases in the Employment Tribunal focussing particularly on auto-enrolment and discrimination. She discusses the new employment rights which have been introduced along with the auto-enrolment regime, and how these rights may become more frequently litigated as a result of the pensions implications of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The second part of the webinar…
Webinars & Recordings 5 Jun, 2020
The Supreme Court today refused permission to the government to appeal in the cases of McCloud and Sergeant relating to age discrimination in the judges and firefighters’ sector pension schemes. The Court of Appeal held in December 2018 that the age protection given to those within 10 years of retirement when public sector pensions were changed from a final salary to a career average basis, was discriminatory on the grounds of age and that the government had acted irrationally in offering it. This decision will have a major impact on the provision of pensions in the public sector. Andrew Short QC’s specialist practice centres on pensions, employment, and general commercial work. He has acted in many of the leading cases…
News 27 Jun, 2019
Lydia Seymour will be speaking at the UCL Pensions Law: Policy & Practice Conference on 20th June 2019 in London. The conference is being jointly organised by The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Slaughter and May, and the UCL Faculty of Laws and Lydia’s talk will explore: the background to the 2015 public sector pensions changes; the Court of Appeal’s decisions in the judges’ and firefighters’ age discrimination challenges, and the policy issues which arise. Please click here for further information about the conference. Lydia’s practice includes all aspects of ‘black letter’ pensions law, including: de-risking, rectification, withdrawal arrangements in multi-employer schemes and trustee duties. Her clients include the Pensions Regulator, employers, trustees, trade unions and individuals. To instruct Lydia, please…
News 18 Jun, 2019
Lydia Seymour acted for the appellant in London Underground Limited v Amissah & Others – a rare Court of Appeal (CoA) consideration of remedies under the Agency Workers Regulations (AWR), and specifically the liability of hirers in circumstances in which an employment agency goes into liquidation. This case raises some interesting points below: The CoA found that the approach of both the Employment Tribunal (ET) and the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) to compensation under the AWR had been wrong. The AWR provide an enforceable right for workers to be paid at the same rate as their comparators rather than simply a right to equal terms; Although the hirer, London Underground Limited, had already paid the agency all of the sums due to the Claimants…
News 19 Feb, 2019
Andrew Short QC, Lydia Seymour and Naomi Ling have been successful in the Court of Appeal in the claims of more than 200 judges and 6000 firefighters for age discrimination, equal pay and race discrimination. The Court of Appeal held that transitional protections that sheltered older judges and firefighters from the significant reductions in pensions entitlements which the claimants suffered as a result of the public sector pensions changes in 2015, were unlawfully discriminatory. It made findings on the correct approach to take to the exercise of objective justification where the state has a legitimate interest in the issue. It also held that the desire to protect older judges/firefighters when they would have been least affected by the 2015 changes…
News 20 Dec, 2018
Andrew Short QC and Lydia Seymour successful in the EAT in firefighters’ pension case appeal, overturning ET decision to dismiss the firefighters’ claims. Andrew Short QC and Lydia Seymour act for more than 6,000 firefighters in this group claim for age discrimination, equal pay, sex and race discrimination following the introduction of a less generous pension scheme for younger firefighters in 2015. All claims were originally dismissed by the Employment Tribunal, but the rejection of the age and race discrimination claims has now been overturned. The EAT found that the Employment Tribunal had applied the wrong test on the question of justification and an inadequate level of scrutiny on the issue of proportionality. All parties were given permission to appeal…
News 7 Feb, 2018
Following on from the liability judgment in the IBM Project Waltz proceedings which was handed down on 4th April 2014, a further lengthy and important judgment has been handed down that deals with the remedies available to members of the scheme. Outer Temple barristers Andrew Spink QC, Andrew Short QC and Saul Margo appeared for the Trustee whilst Nicolas Stallworthy QC and Lydia Seymour, also of Outer Temple, appeared on behalf of the Representative Beneficiaries. In the judgment, Warren J dealt in turn with each of the elements of Project Waltz that breached the “Imperial” duty of good faith and the contractual duty of trust and confidence. Warren J found in favour of the members on the vast majority of…
News 23 Feb, 2015
