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Secured pension meaning

What does Secured pension mean?
In pensions practice, a secured pension is retirement income that is contractually guaranteed rather than taken via investment drawdown. It is provided either by a lifetime annuity purchased from an insurer or by a scheme pension paid directly by the occupational pension scheme. Under the UK pensions tax regime in the Finance Act 2004, “lifetime annuity” and “scheme pension” are defined terms; “secured pension” itself is a descriptive label used in HMRC guidance to distinguish these guaranteed incomes from unsecured/capped drawdown (historic) and flexi‑access drawdown. Payments are authorised pension payments and, once set up, are generally not member‑adjustable other than through pre‑agreed indexation and options (for example, spouse’s/partner’s benefits or guarantee periods). The income risk sits with the insurer or the scheme, not with the member’s fund performance. Usage is consistent across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Ireland, practitioners use the term in the same practical sense to contrast annuity or scheme‑paid pensions with ARF/vested PRSA drawdown; it is not a defined statutory term. The characterisation matters for advice on risk allocation, death‑benefit structure, commutation/transfer options and the tax position relative to flexible access.
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View the related News about Secured pension

NEWS
UK Pension Protection Fund sells restructured Kodak Alaris to Kingswood Capital; KPP2 members' compensation unaffected; value undisclosed; Eversheds Sutherland and Kirkland & Ellis advise on sale

On 2 August 2024, the PPF announced that Kodak Alaris had been reorganised under its ownership and was now ‘performing well’. The consideration for the transaction was not revealed. The PPF added, ‘this is standard practice for pension scheme assets we take on, and, after a thorough process, we are pleased to have secured a good outcome for all parties’...

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NEWS
Pensions Ombudsman: professional trustee 80% liable for speculative SSAS investments; due diligence and diversification failures; exoneration clause ineffective; limitation runs from knowledge that investments became worthless

Original news Mr K (CAS-44560-Q1C8)—12 September 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman upheld a complaint concerning a scheme’s inadequate due diligence on a high-risk investment. The professional trustee was found to have breached both common law and statutory duties by committing funds to storage pods and airport parking. As the investments lacked diversification and were overly speculative, no reasonable trustee would have proceeded. The determination underscores that a professional trustee can be accountable for investment losses even where the member was heavily engaged in making the decision... What were the facts? Mr K was a member of the Blick-Horsham Limited Executive Pension Scheme (the Scheme), a small self-administered scheme (SSAS). The Scheme’s trustees were Rowanmoor Trustees Limited (RTL) and Mr K. He proposed investing in storage pods and airport parking via Store First Limited (Store) and Park First Limited (Park). In February 2015, RTL warned Mr K that the proposed investments featured a two-year break clause and advised him to consider how a replacement tenant might be...

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NEWS
Upper Tribunal clarifies SSAS unauthorised payments, scheme sanction charge time limits, and trustee valuation duties in IP monetisation arrangements; limited remittal for goodwill issue (Morgan Lloyd Trustees v HMRC)

Morgan Lloyd Trustees Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKUT 102 (TCC) The company acted as trustee to small, self‑administered pension schemes (SSASs) established by more than 500 employers, who then entered into arrangements with their SSASs aimed at releasing cash. The structures adopted were either loans, secured by charges over various intellectual property (IP) items—such as domain names, websites and trade marks—or, alternatively, sale and leaseback, or sale and licence‑back, deals concerning comparable IP assets. HMRC took the view that many employers had received unauthorised employer payments and accordingly issued assessments to unauthorised payment charges and surcharges. In addition, HMRC assessed MLT to scheme sanction charges. MLT applied to HMRC for discharge of the charges under FA 2004, s 268; however, HMRC refused certain applications and concluded that others were submitted outside the time limit. MLT and the employers appealed to the FTT, which dismissed all of the appeals. The first issue for the UT was the extent...

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View the related Practice Notes about Secured pension

PRACTICE NOTES
Pension drawdown (flexi-access and grandfathered capped) from 6 April 2015: scheme powers, tax allowances post-2024, death benefits, reporting, member issues and FCA rules

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO MONEY PURCHASE ARRANGEMENTS FROM 6 APRIL 2015 From 6 April 2015, new pension flexibilities expanded the retirement choices for DC members and others with ‘flexible benefits’ (in essence, money purchase and/or cash balance entitlements). As part of those reforms, drawdown became more broadly accessible. For background on the changes implemented on 6 April 2015, see Practice Note: Pension freedoms—an introduction [Archived]. This Practice Note concentrates on the legal framework for drawdown arrangements set up on and after 6 April 2015. It also addresses how pre-April 2015 drawdown is treated from that date. For the rules governing drawdown before 6 April 2015, see Practice Note: Drawdown between 6 April 2011 and 5 April 2015 [Archived]. What is drawdown? The label ‘drawdown pension’ (often called ‘flexible income’) replaced ‘unsecured pension’ and ‘alternatively secured pension’ used up to 5 April 2011. Drawdown pension describes the method of paying benefits that allows members to set their own yearly income from a pension arrangement...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Trustee investment disputes: duties, standard investment criteria, breach, causation, quantum, defences, procedure, pensions, land and ESG (England and Wales)

Examples of claims against trustees for breach of investment duties include: delay—where the trustee is slow to deploy trust capital poor investment choices—e.g. reckless exposure to high-risk, undiversified holdings unauthorised investments—such as disregarding a mandate to invest only in specified assets not investing the trust fund as required Trustees' powers of investment Trustees should confine themselves to authorised investments. They must consider both the statutory general power of investment and any extra powers, exclusions, or limits set out in the trust instrument. The “general power of investment” permits trustees to make any kind of investment they could make if absolutely entitled to the trust assets. An exception applies to “investments in land other than in loans secured on land”, which are governed by a separate provision (see “Investments in land” below). This general power sits alongside powers conferred other than under the Trustee Act 2000 (TrA 2000), for instance by a trust deed, and remains subject to any...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Auto-enrolment in workplace pensions: categorising workers and jobholders, territorial scope, qualifying earnings, pay reference periods, exceptions and contractual enrolment (England and Wales)

FORTHCOMING DEVELOPMENT : The Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) (No. 2) Bill secured Royal Assent on 18 September 2023, becoming the Pensions (Extension of Automatic Enrolment) Act 2023 (the Act), and was published on 19 September 2023. The Act confers powers on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to make regulations to: lower the minimum age at which otherwise eligible employees must be automatically enrolled and re-enrolled into a pension scheme by their employers; remove the Lower Earnings Limit from the qualifying earnings band so that contributions are calculated from the first pound of earnings; and revise the requirements for the annual review of the qualifying earnings band. Adjustments to automatic enrolment eligibility will proceed following a consultation on the detailed implementation method and timing. The commencement of section 1 of the Act is set to be ‘on such day or days as the Secretary of State may by regulations appoint’. For further information, see: DWP press release, Work...

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