Alistair Hill
Alistair is a Legal Director in the Brodies pensions team, where he practices both as an English and as a Scottish solicitor.
He helps a broad range of employers, trustees and other professionals with defined benefit and defined contribution pension schemes, including advising on the pensions aspects of corporate transactions and public/private sector staff transfers.
From his days in-house at a leading insurer, Alistair has also retained an active interest in developing and maintaining defined contribution pension propositions from the provider's and administrator's viewpoint, such as personal pension, mastertrust and SIPP products.
While he would argue passionately that clients shouldn't haven't to worry about them unless they want to, Alistair has always been interested in the more technical aspects of pensions law.
Besides his work for LexisPSL, this has led him to play an active role in the professional bodies and more generally in debating law reform and public policy in UK pensions.
Alistair is a former Scottish Chairman of the Association of Pension Lawyers and now sits on the Law Society of Scotland's pensions law specialist accreditation panel, as well as being the convenor of its pensions law reform sub-committee.
Practice Areas
Panel
- Contributing Author
Qualified Year
- 1991
Experience
- CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP (2014 - 2023)
- Dundas & Wilson CS LLP (1997 - 2014)
- Mercer (1995 - 1997)
- Scottish Amicable (1991 - 1995)
Membership
- Association of Pension Lawyers
- Society of Writers to HM Signet
- Law Society of England & Wales
- Law Society of Scotland
Qualifications
- Solicitor (England & Wales) (1996)
- Solicitor (Scotland) (1991)
- Diploma in Legal Practice (1989)
- LLB (Hons) (1988)
Education
- University of Law (1995-1996)
- University of Glasgow (1984-1989)
10 Contributions by Alistair Hill
PRACTICE NOTES
Group personal pensions: legal framework and employer duties on auto-enrolment, IGCs, contributions and disclosure
Personal pensions, brought in during 1987, were hailed as creating fresh options for both employees and the self-employed. It soon became clear the proposition could equally be promoted to employers, and the group personal pension (GPP) swiftly emerged to meet that demand. In essence, a GPP is a collection of individual personal pension policies housed within a single personal pension scheme and run by the provider for the workforce of one employer, or a group of employers. GPPs are therefore ‘workplace personal pension schemes’.
Consequently, rules apply to GPPs that do not apply to personal pensions used outside the workplace. For example, they are overseen by independent governance committees (IGCs) (see —principal legal features below) and limits apply to charges borne by members. For more detail on workplace requirements for GPPs, see Practice Note: Personal pensions—an introduction—Features specific to workplace personal pension schemes. Where the individual arrangements inside a GPP are self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), the GPP may be presented as a group SIPP arrangement...
principal legal features
Distinction from occupational pension schemes
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
Investment‑regulated pension schemes (SIPPs/SSASs): UK tax rules on taxable property, direct and indirect holdings, diverse commercial vehicles, and unauthorised payment, income and capital gains charges
Investment-regulated pension schemes (IRPSs)
Investment-regulated pension schemes (IRPSs) are a distinct class of registered pension schemes that face extra controls over the asset types permitted as investments. They were established as a separate form of registered pension scheme by the Finance Act 2004 (FA 2004), then adjusted ahead of 6 April 2006 by the Finance Act 2006, as set out by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement on 5 December 2005.
An IRPS may take the form of either an occupational or a personal pension scheme, with the main types generally treated as IRPSs commonly described as:
small self-administered schemes (SSASs) (a form of occupational pension scheme), and
self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) (through which a member can exercise almost complete control over investment choices)
Unless transitional protection applies (see below), from 6 April 2006 IRPSs have been prevented from investing, whether directly or indirectly, in ‘taxable property’ without facing heavy tax charges. Acquiring an interest in ‘taxable property’ held for the purposes of an arrangement under the pension scheme relating to the member would result in an IRPS having made...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
Self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs): UK establishment and registration, trust governance, investments, IRPS classification, taxable property charges and provider due diligence
Self-invested personal pension schemes (SIPPs)
At their launch in April 1988, personal pensions could only be set up by authorised banks, insurers or unit trust providers. These were the only bodies permitted to establish such arrangements, and this exclusivity influenced how early schemes were initially set up. The prevailing assumption was that products from these organisations would confine investment opportunities to areas closely aligned with their principal activities of banking, long‑term insurance and running unit trusts. Yet still the legislation itself imposed no such limits, and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) issued a statement — Joint Office Memorandum 101 — outlining when it would approve personal pension schemes that offered members a broader range of investments. Under current conditions, these so‑called self‑invested personal pension schemes (SIPPs) can, in principle, give an individual almost complete discretion over the investments to be made. In practice, the latitude often goes no further than free selection among managed funds, cash (commonly restricted to a single currency — sterling) and listed shares. Nevertheless, in some instances, materially greater scope is available, enabling members to commit funds to, personally selected property, derivative contracts, and loans to third parties...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
Stakeholder pension schemes after 1 October 2012: residual employer deduction duties, eligibility and contributions, scheme registration and operation, permitted charges, and TPR/FCA oversight
Stakeholder pension schemes after 1 October 2012
The duty on employers to nominate and provide access to a stakeholder pension scheme (as set out in section 3 of the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (WRPA 1999)) ended on 1 October 2012, when the requirement to enrol workers automatically into a qualifying scheme (introduced by the Pensions Act 2008) took effect. However, unless a relevant exception applies (eg where an employer is notified that a designated stakeholder pension scheme has commenced winding up), employers remain under a continuing duty in respect of relevant employees to deduct employee contributions to an existing stakeholder scheme from their pay and remit them to the trustees or managers of the schemes. In addition, any existing or new stakeholder pension schemes must continue to be operated in line with the statutory requirements for such schemes, eg concerning registration and cost. This Practice Note offers an introduction to the statutory framework and operation of stakeholder pension schemes after 1 October 2012...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
Stakeholder pension schemes: pre-1 October 2012 employer designation regime, exemptions, relevant employees, registration and charge caps, enforcement, and continuing payroll deduction obligations (Archived)
ARCHIVED : This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained.
From 8 October 2001, the Welfare Reform and Pensions Act 1999 (WRPA 1999) placed a duty on employers with five or more staff to nominate and enable access to a stakeholder pension arrangement for their workforce as required by applicable law. That designation and access duty, as provided for in WRPA 1999, s 3, was superseded on 1 October 2012, when automatic enrolment into a qualifying scheme, introduced by the Pensions Act 2008, came into legal force. Nonetheless, save where a relevant exception applies, employers remain obliged, for relevant employees, to deduct member contributions to a stakeholder scheme from remuneration and remit them promptly to the trustees or managers. In addition, any existing or newly established stakeholder pension schemes must still be administered in accordance with the statutory rules for such schemes, for example as regards registration and cost. This Practice Note offers an overview of the legislative framework and the operation of stakeholder pension schemes before 1 October 2012, and should be read as background to the position prior to the commencement of automatic enrolment...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
UK pensions tax rules for overseas schemes (OPS, ROPS, QROPS, QNUPS): eligibility criteria, interrelationships, transfers and inheritance tax
FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT :
Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will raise the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, with an exception for members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes. The Act will also permit members of registered pension schemes to access benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they either possessed an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits, or were engaged in a substantive transfer to a scheme that, on or before that date, offered an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57.
To make use of this 2028 protection, the scheme’s rules must have contained, as at 11 February 2021, an unqualified right to take entitlement to scheme benefits before age 57. For further details, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact.
There are distinct categories of overseas pension schemes, each with different tiers of requirements. These include:
Overseas Pension Schemes (OPS)
Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (ROPS)
Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes (QROPS)
Qualifying Non-UK Pension Schemes (QNUPS)
The Pension...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
UK personal pension investments: tax reliefs, unauthorised payments and taxable property, SIPP due diligence and liability (FCA/FOS), trust law duties, securitisation due diligence, and unit‑linked patient capital reforms
Before 6 April 2006, personal pension schemes had to offer retirement benefits on a money purchase basis to gain HMRC approval. Although that rule no longer applies, its legacy—together with the original, narrow list of authorised providers—has influenced the investment structures and strategies that are typically available in the personal pensions market...
Investment strategy
Unlike trustees of occupational pension schemes, contract-based pension providers are not obliged to prepare a statement of investment principles (SIP). Their main public-facing document is the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) annual report. IGCs must act in the interests of policyholders. While their primary role is to assess value for money, the report goes beyond that: it sets out how the IGC has considered policyholders’ interests more broadly. It must also detail the arrangements the pension provider has established to ensure that policyholders’ views are directly conveyed to the IGC. For further information, see Practice Note: Independent governance committees (IGCs) and pensions...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
UK personal pension scheme wind-ups: planning, FCA Consumer Duty, stakeholder triggers, member communications, transfers, discharges and HMRC reporting
This Practice Note explores the legal and practical considerations that arise when a personal pension scheme is wound up by its provider, the scheme administrator, and any trustee.
What does it mean?
Care must be taken to distinguish the winding up of a personal pension scheme from an employer’s choice to stop participating in the arrangement which, in the context of employee relations, may be portrayed as the winding up or closure of the employer’s group personal pension plan.
Any pension arrangement that is not an occupational pension scheme is a personal pension scheme, and it must, in general, be created by a person with permission under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA) to establish a personal pension scheme or stakeholder pension scheme in the UK.
Unlike occupational pension schemes, a personal pension scheme does not have to be set up under irrevocable trusts.
The term personal pension scheme is defined in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, SI 2001/544 as any scheme, other than an occupational pension scheme or a stakeholder pension scheme, intended to provide benefits for individuals:
on retirement
on reaching...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
UK personal pension transfers: statutory and non-statutory rights, recognised transfer rules, due diligence and scam safeguards, advice requirements, tax implications, protections, and block/bulk transfer issues
A pension transfer
A pension transfer takes place when an individual’s rights under one pension scheme are moved to another. The ceding scheme passes the relevant assets to the receiving scheme, which then assumes responsibility for providing the benefits for the person concerned.
Members of all UK registered pension schemes that are personal pension schemes have an overriding statutory entitlement to transfer the cash equivalent of their benefits to another pension arrangement, subject to meeting certain prescribed conditions.
Many personal pension schemes also allow transfers out in wider situations than those giving rise to the statutory right, for example:
partial transfers
transfers of benefits that are in drawdown
transfers of particular assets in non-cash form
In practice, it is crucial that transfers paid from personal pension schemes constitute a recognised transfer for HMRC purposes and do not inadvertently forfeit any tax-related protections or statuses the member may hold.
Personal pension schemes can also receive transfers from other pension schemes, although the only circumstance in which there is a statutory right to this (indirectly conferred through the...
Pensions
PRACTICE NOTES
UK personal pensions: statutory development, establishment and regulation, contributions and tax, investments, benefits and transfers, disclosure, FSCS compensation and complaints handling
FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT:
Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will raise the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, with the exception of members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes. The Finance Act 2022 will also permit members of registered pension schemes to access benefits before 57 where, on or before 4 November 2021, they either held an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits, or were undertaking a substantive transfer to a scheme that, on or before 4 November 2021, provided an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57. To rely on this new 2028 protection, the scheme’s rules must, as at 11 February 2021, have contained an unqualified right to draw scheme benefits before age 57. For further details, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact.
Statutory development of personal pensions
Retirement annuity contracts were the forerunner to personal pensions. Introduced by the Finance Act 1956, they allowed the self-employed—who were unable to join an occupational pension scheme—to build up retirement provision in a tax-advantageous manner...
Pensions
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