Robyn Connolly
Robyn is an associate in the Travers Smith Pensions Sector Group. She advises pension scheme trustees and scheme sponsoring employers on all aspects of pensions law.
Robyn has particular experience advising on:
· the legal issues affecting the operation and administration of pension schemes, including rule amendments, historic benefit queries, member disputes and communications;
· scheme funding and governance; and
· the pensions aspects of corporate transactions, including both public and private M&A.
Robyn is a member of the Association of Pensions Lawyers.
1 Contributions by Robyn Connolly
PRACTICE NOTES
Intra-group reorganisations and DB pensions: managing section 75 debts, flexible apportionment, trustee engagement, TUPE, notifiable events, and TPR clearance and criminal risks
The pension consequences of an internal group restructuring largely hinge on the make-up of the group’s pension provision. Material pensions questions commonly surface where the group underwrites one or more occupational defined benefit schemes. This Practice Note, using two case studies, highlights the principal matters that employers and trustees ought to consider when carrying out an intra-group reorganisation.
Key pensions considerations
If the group backs a defined benefit (DB) scheme, prompt thought should be given to whether the restructuring would:
trigger the liabilities for employer debt of a sponsoring employer under section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995 (the s 75 debt) and, if so, how that liability could be managed
negatively affect the sponsor support available to the scheme, which could in turn:
influence the trustees’ approach to the scheme’s investment and funding strategy, or
expose the sponsoring employers (and those associated or connected with them) to the Pensions Regulator’s (the Regulator’s) anti-avoidance powers
create a risk of committing any of the following criminal offences:
avoidance of employer debt, and/or
conduct risking accrued scheme benefits under sections 58A–58B of the Pensions Act 2004 (PeA 2004), and...
Pensions
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