Small self-administered pension scheme (SSAS) meaning

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...

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...

Original news Mr N (CAS-49148-R5W6)—18 December 2024 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman has upheld a complaint concerning the calculation of a transfer value. It was accepted that the figure had been miscalculated. Members’ entitlements are limited to the benefits specified in the rules, and they should not receive any windfall beyond the correctly assessed amount where a transfer value had been lower than it ought to have been for the transferring individual. The trustees were instructed to authorise an additional transfer to address the shortfall. This outcome serves as a reminder that members are only due the benefits contained in a scheme’s governing documentation. What were the facts? Mr N was both a member and a trustee of the Alloy Sales Ltd Executive Pension Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme was a small self‑administered scheme (SSAS)...

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...

The Fraud Compensation Fund (FCF) was set up as a statutory fund under section 188 of the Pensions Act 2004 (PeA 2004) to provide compensation to trustees or scheme managers of occupational pension schemes where a scheme’s assets have been reduced due to an act or omission amounting to an offence of dishonesty. The FCF is administered by the Board of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), which was created under PeA 2004, s 107. For details on the PPF’s general operations, see Practice Note: The Pension Protection Fund—an introduction. The obligation to make fraud compensation payments The PPF’s obligation to pay fraud compensation in respect of an occupational scheme arises under PeA 2004, Pt 2, Ch 4. The duty to make such payments is set out in PeA 2004, s 182. Under PeA 2004, s 182(1), the PPF must make one or more fraud compensation payments in relation to an occupational pension scheme if: the scheme is not a prescribed scheme or a scheme of...

A-day 'A-day' is the widely used term for the broad pension tax 'simplification' reforms that began on 6 April 2006. The changes covered: how much pension contribution was allowed, the kinds of schemes an individual could invest in, the sums that could be taken (and when), and the choices available for any remaining fund. A-day also introduced the annual allowance and the (now abolished) lifetime allowance. See: Annual allowance and Lifetime allowance. AFPS AFPS: Armed forces pension scheme; see Practice Note: Public sector pensions and family proceedings. Accrual rate The speed at which pension benefits build as pensionable service is completed in a final salary scheme, eg 1/60 for each year of pensionable service. Accrued benefits The benefits earned in respect of service up to a specified date. Added years Extra pension provided by adding further years of pensionable service in a salary-related scheme. Such additional years are secured via transfer payments or through additional voluntary contributions/augmentation...