Self-invested personal pension meaning

Original news Mr T (CAS-64304-R5R1)—14 April 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman dismissed a complaint concerning the distribution of death benefits from a pension scheme. It concluded the scheme administrator’s decision was reasonable, neither irrational nor perverse. The complainant was not named in a supposed will—which was invalid as it lacked witnesses—and was the sole beneficiary of the late member’s estate. Before deciding, the administrator carried out extensive enquiries. This outcome serves as a reminder that trustees and administrators of pension schemes should undertake appropriate enquiries when determining death benefit payments. What were the facts? Mr S was a member of the AJ Bell You Invest Self invested Personal Pension Plan (the Scheme). Following his death, he was survived by, among others, Mr T. Mr T had entered into a civil partnership with Mr S...

Original news Mr Y (CAS-57893-P0C6)—20 August 2025 / Ms R (CAS-58612-P1X1)—18 July 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman dismissed a complaint concerning a loan note investment. The scheme’s independent trustee bore no responsibility for losses arising from this high-risk, speculative asset. The complainants had completed forms confirming the trustee was not giving investment advice and could not be held accountable for any investment loss. The arrangement ran on an execution-only basis. The trustee also undertook appropriate due diligence before proceeding. In light of these factors, no liability ultimately attached to the trustee for the loan note loss. The determination highlights the perils of placing funds into non-standard investments. Accordingly, the complaint failed. What were the facts? Ms R and Mr Y were members of the Westerby Pension Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme was a self-directed, self-invested personal pension (SIPP) scheme. Westerby Trustee Services Limited (Westerby) was the Scheme’s independent trustee and administrator...

Trafalgar Multi Asset Trading Company Ltd (in liquidation) v Hadley and others [2023] EWHC 1184 (Ch), [2023] All ER (D) 80 (May) What are the practical implications of this case? Echoing Financial Conduct Authority v Avocade Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1206 and Adams v Options UK Personal Pensions LLP [2021] EWCA Civ 474, this dispute concerns losses borne by pension savers after their transferred monies were placed into inappropriate, high‑risk assets. A notable distinction here is that the claimant was the corporate vehicle through which the savers’ funds were invested, acting by its liquidators. The claim may ultimately enable some recovery of pension savings without individual members, or the FCA, having to commence proceedings. The relevant events date from 2014 to 2016, and it is hoped that changes since then have curtailed the likelihood of transfers into comparable arrangements. In particular, an overseas investment would now trigger an amber flag under The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Conditions for Transfers) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/1237, so a member would...

This Practice Note sets out the principal steps for properly bringing to an end a defined contribution (DC) occupational pension scheme—also described as a money purchase occupational pension arrangement or a trust-based defined contribution plan. Throughout this Practice Note, this type of arrangement is termed a ‘DC scheme’. The guidance applies across a range of DC schemes, including trusts that sit outside the authorised master trust framework and small self-administered pension schemes (SSASs), although the latter may, in certain cases, be excluded from particular statutory obligations or requirements. This Practice Note does not cover the winding-up of any: an ‘authorised master trust’ under the Pension Schemes Act 2017 (PSA 2017)—for further detailed information, please see Practice Note: The authorisation and supervisory regime for master trusts, contract-based DC arrangements (eg group personal pension arrangements)—for further details and guidance, see Practice Note: Winding up of personal pension schemes Statute makes distinct and specific provision for hybrid schemes (combining defined benefit (DB) and DC...

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...

This Practice Note examines how sale and leaseback arrangements are structured, the reasons for adopting them, and the principal points to negotiate in the leaseback documentation... What is a sale and leaseback? A sale and leaseback enables a real estate owner to release capital whilst retaining occupation and use of the property. the disposal by a business of part or all of its property interests in exchange for a cash lump sum; and the concurrent grant back to that business of leases of those properties it still needs to run its operations Sale and leaseback is also commonly used to place property into a self‑invested personal pension or a small self‑administered scheme, which falls outside the scope of this note. See Practice Note: Buying property from a SIPP or SSAS. Certain Islamic finance structures operate in a closely comparable manner to sale and leaseback and are discussed in greater detail in Practice Note: Islamic finance standard documentation in the context...