News & Events
News & Events
We are delighted to announce that Jennifer Seaman (TEP) has been appointed as a Full Member of STEP, the global professional association for trust and estate practitioners. Jennifer has been appointed to the top level of STEP membership. Full Members are qualified practitioners with proven qualifications and experience who adhere to STEP’s Code of Professional Conduct, undertake continuing professional development, and hold Professional Indemnity Insurance. TEPs are internationally recognised as experts in their field. STEP is the global professional association for those advising families on planning their assets across generations by setting and upholding high professional standards, informing public policy, promoting education, and connecting practitioners globally to share knowledge and best practice. Find out more Jennifer’s practice covers Traditional Chancery,…
News 13 May, 2021
Saul Margo of Outer Temple Chambers was delighted to host a talk on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 with David Fairs, Executive Director of Policy, Analysis and Advice at The Pensions Regulator. This live virtual talk, hosted by Saul Margo, saw David Fairs cover topics such as the new criminal offences contained in section 107 of the Act, including the concept of “reasonable excuse”, as well as the impact that the pandemic has had and will continue to have on the exercise of TPR’s enforcement powers. After a brief introduction to the Act from David, Saul posed a number of questions by guests in attendance. This Q&A session proved very popular and many questions were answered during the event, providing…
Webinars & Recordings 14 Apr, 2021
Jennifer Seaman and Nicholas Hill recently provided a talk on the new Practice Direction 57AC and its Appendix, highlighting key features and discussing practical ways to ensure compliance with the Practice Direction and avoiding sanctions. The new Practice Direction 57AC comes into force on 6 April 2021. It concerns witness statements for use at trials in the Business and Property Courts signed on or after 6 April 2021. It will involve a fundamental re-think to how such witness statements are produced. Jennifer and Nick presented a virtual talk recently, aimed at helping commercial and private client practitioners get to grips with the new rules. Watch the webinar; Practice Direction 57AC; Witness Statements About the speakers Jennifer Seaman is a leading…
Webinars & Recordings 25 Mar, 2021
You are invited to join Outer Temple Chambers and the Pensions Regulator for a talk on Tuesday March 30 2021 at 10:00 AM on the Pension Schemes Act 2021. Outer Temple Chambers is delighted to host a talk on the Pension Schemes Act 2021 with David Fairs, Executive Director of Policy, Analysis and Advice at The Pensions Regulator. The talk will be hosted by Saul Margo of Outer Temple Chambers and David will cover topics such as the new criminal offences contained in section 107 of the Act, including the concept of “reasonable excuse”, as well as the impact that the pandemic has had and will continue to have on the exercise of TPR’s enforcement powers. You are invited to submit…
Events 12 Mar, 2021
The Pension Schemes Act 2021 came into force on 11 February 2021 and is set to make fundamental changes to the UK pensions landscape. Andrew Spink QC and Oliver Powell signpost the key changes that have been introduced by the Act, focusing on the new powers that will be available to The Pensions Regulator and the three new criminal offences created by the Act. The Pension Schemes Act 2021 addresses a number of critical areas concerning pensions, and importantly brings about a number of significant changes. Broadly distilled, the Act: establishes a new framework for the formation and administration of collective money purchase pension schemes; creates three new criminal offences; introduces a new power to impose civil penalties of up to £1m; expands…
Legal Blogs 3 Mar, 2021
Jennifer Seaman and Victoria Brown have updated and published the Tolley’s Pension Law Chapter on Dispute Resolution and Pension Scheme Litigation. Tolley’s Pension Law is a leading ‘loose-leaf’ pensions text book – published by Lexis Nexis. The chapter on dispute resolution and pension scheme litigation focuses on occupational pension schemes and gives the latest updates on procedures available to resolve disputes in such schemes, including: litigation before the courts (covering the latest case law in this area, e.g. the British Airways Pension Scheme litigation and FSHC Group Holdings Ltd and subsequent cases); actions before The Pension Regulator; cases before The Pensions Ombudsman. Tolley’s Pensions Law is one of the authoritative texts on pensions law in the UK. LexisNexis describes it…
External Publications 3 Feb, 2021
We are delighted to invite you to a webcast about the recent Lloyds Judgment on Wednesday 9th December. Hear from Andrew Short QC, Richard Hitchcock QC and Nick Hill, experts from our Pensions Team and counsel instructed on the case. As you will be aware, in 2018 the first Lloyds Judgment confirmed that pension schemes had to equalise excess benefits for the effect of unequal GMPs. It did not however address the position of trustees of pension schemes where a member had transferred out and the trustees had made a transfer payment. On 20th November 2020, Judgment concerning the position of trustees following on a transfer payment was handed down. The consequences of this Judgment for pension schemes are far reaching…
Events 25 Nov, 2020
Following on from their previous article considering the scope of the moratorium from a lender’s perspective, Andrew Spink QC, Justina Stewart and Saaman Pourghadiri consider the thorny question of whether all defined benefit pension scheme contributions are exempt from the payment holiday under the moratorium. In this note Andrew Spink QC, Justina Stewart and Saaman Pourghadiri consider one important issue for insolvency and pensions practitioners which arises from the Moratorium in Part A1 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (“IA 86”) introduced by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA 2020”). The note sets out various arguments going to the vexed issue of which forms of employer contribution to an occupational pension scheme fall within the payment holiday under the…
Legal Blogs 15 Oct, 2020
Judgment was recently handed down by the High Court in Univar v Smith & Ors. Michael Uberoi’s article looking at some of the key issues in the judgment has been published in Practical Law (Pensions). Univar v Smith & Ors [2020] EWHC 1596 (Ch) was the first contested application for the rectification of pension scheme documentation for over eight years, and was also the first judgment by the High Court to apply the Court of Appeal’s new, subjective test for rectification, as declared by Leggatt LJ in FSHC Group Holdings Ltd v GLAS [2019] EWCA Civ 1361. The 15 day trial involved cross-examination of over a dozen trustee and company witnesses who were the relevant decision-makers for the scrutinised Deed,…
News 11 Sep, 2020
Chloë Bell has successfully provided pro bono representation before the Financial Ombudsman through Advocate, the Bar’s national charity for free legal assistance from volunteer barristers. Chloë Bell has provided pro bono representation to an individual who suffered a shortfall in a pension transfer quotation due to negligent advice and services provided by his financial advisors. The individual’s advisors sent incorrect documentation to the entity responsible for providing the quotation. When the correct documentation was eventually provided the original quotation had expired and the individual’s guaranteed minimum value quotation was lower. Representation was provided (through Advocate) before the Financial Ombudsman. Chloë provided submissions on the contractual and tortious duties owed by the financial advisors, the breach of those duties and the…
News 27 Aug, 2020
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
On 13 July 2020 the Court of Appeal handed down its second judgment in Safeway Ltd v Newton (previously [2017] EWCA Civ 1482]) concerning the date on which the Normal Pension Ages applicable under the Safeway Pension Scheme were equalised at 65. Safeway Limited v 1) Andrew Newton 2) SPTL [2020] EWCA Civ 869: equalisation pursuant to section 62 Pensions Act 1995 The Court of Appeal held that section 62 Pensions Act 1995 went further than Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome and was an effective measure to close the Barber window. The Background On 1 December 1991 it was announced to Scheme members that Normal Pension Ages (NPAs) would henceforth be 65 years for men and women. On…
News 13 Jul, 2020
