Sheamal Samarasekera
Sheamal is a senior associate in the Travers Smith Pensions Department. He advises pension scheme trustees and sponsoring employers on all aspects of pensions law.
Sheamal has particular experience advising employers and trustees in connection with scheme closure exercises and rule amendments. He also has experience advising employers in relation to their automatic enrolment duties and death benefit trust arrangements. Sheamal also advises parties on the pensions aspects of corporate transactions including the powers of the Pensions Regulator.
Sheamal is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) and sits on the APL's Investment and Defined Contribution Sub-Committee.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Membership
- Member of the Association of Pension Lawyers (APL)
- Member of the APL's Investment and Defined Contribution Sub-Committee
1 Contributions by Sheamal Samarasekera
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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