Employers, employment and pensions
Compensation for distress and inconvenience – where are we now?

19 March 2019 - Amy Priestley
Pension schemes are complex and even the best-run schemes have to deal with complaints. When advising on complaints being considered under a scheme’s internal dispute resolution procedure (IDRP), I’m often asked ‘should we offer compensation?’ and, if so, ‘how much?’. › Read More
Auto-enrolment and the ban on inducing opt-outs – what is your ‘sole or main purpose’?

26 April 2018 - Helen Powell
One of the questions that comes up most frequently in relation to auto-enrolment is whether proposed action by an employer might breach the ban on inducing workers to opt out of pension saving. This comes up in the context of employers wanting to offer flexible benefit arrangements, so that workers can arrange particular elements of › Read More
TPR and the BHS pension schemes – (not quite) the last word…

06 July 2017 - Caroline Overton
The settlement agreement reached in relation to the BHS pension schemes, followed by the publication last week of the Pensions Regulator’s regulatory intervention report, may mark the end of the long-running, high-profile BHS pensions saga. This is therefore an appropriate moment to take a step back and consider what these milestones mean in practice. › Read More
When a good employee goes bad… is their pension at risk?

15 May 2017 - Helen Powell
The Pensions Ombudsman has recently had to consider the case of a convicted fraudster, Mr A, who had embezzled around £500,000 from his former employer, but had been made redundant in a separate exercise before his fraud was discovered. Mr A had been made bankrupt on the employer’s petition, but this did not give the › Read More
Financial Support Directions: issues for banks and lenders

25 January 2017 - Jason Shaw
With the high profile collapse of BHS and two subsequent Parliamentary inquiries, the role and powers of the Pensions Regulator have come under close scrutiny since the second half of 2016. This spring, the government is planning to issue a discussion paper on various issues related to defined benefit pension schemes; it is perhaps no › Read More