When it’s ajar… errr. Anyway, moving on to pensions law – when can trustees’ decisions be set aside? I’m talking about the so-called rule in Hastings Bass, which we now know isn’t the rule in Hastings Bass at all ….
Archive for the ‘Trustees’ Category
When is a decision not a decision?
Friday, 25 March 2011Pension schemes in 2010: what kind of year has it been?
Thursday, 30 December 2010
It was Mark Twain who was forced to protest that the reports of his death had been exaggerated. Although the terminal decline of the final salary pension scheme has been solemnly predicted for some time, for those of us involved in pensions this year it has felt more like a high fever than a long goodbye.
The Pensions Regulator and the need for employer covenant reviews
Friday, 23 July 2010In recent years, few topics seem to have risen so regularly to the top of the pensions “hot topics” pile as that of the employer covenant. And rightly so, you might reasonably think. But despite Regulatory guidance, do pension scheme trustees and employers actually feel confident that they know just how often their covenant should be reviewed, by whom or to what level of detail? I’m not sure. (more…)
Ill-health retirement: reviewing pensions in payment
Tuesday, 1 June 2010For better, for worse; in sickness but not in health?
Payment of a scheme pension to a pensioner can bear a certain resemblance to a marriage. That’s to say, there’s a formal relationship between the pension scheme and the member intended to last for the rest of the member’s life, and generally death alone can sever the commitment. Like a marriage, when a member becomes incapacitated, calculating pension payments can get more tricky. There are convoluted rules to reducing and reinstating ill-health early retirement pensions which trustees need to know about – what are they? (more…)
Pension scheme trustees – where to find their rules on governance?
Tuesday, 4 May 2010In her post last month, Maria Stimpson talked about updating trustee companies’ articles of association. New articles can allow for extra flexibility in running companies, taking account of the changes made by the Companies Act 2006. Maria pointed to a more pressing reason for an update – to ensure that all the documents governing the running of the pension scheme are consistent. I recently came across a case where the scheme’s documents didn’t mesh together.
