Legal News

Hymans Robertson, commenting on 8 July 2025 to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ( MHCLG) consultation, said the suite of proposals for the LGPS in England and Wales is positive, yet their rollout must be appropriately timed. MHCLG opened the consultation in May 2025, setting out a number of suggested reforms to the LGPS, such as making all maternity, shared parental and adoption absence automatically pensionable for scheme members. Whitehall also suggested revising the definition of child-related leave so staff can accrue pensionable pay during the final 13 weeks of the full 52-week period, which currently does not count towards pension. In addition, the package would confirm that any unpaid leave shorter than 30 days should be treated as ordinary pensionable earnings, alongside a range of other measures......

Max Serwin, formerly known as Emil Ingmanson According to a High Court ruling dated 8 July 2025, Max Serwin, previously known as Emil Ingmanson, created Falcon Funds SICAV Plc as a means to direct pension investments into companies in which he held personal interests. Judge Mark Pelling KC concluded that Serwin presented Falcon as a legitimate investment fund when, to a substantial extent, it was not. As the designer of the Falcon arrangement, his conduct and failures were the unlawful acts that caused Sweden’s losses. Sweden asserted that the fund formed part of a broader operation that allegedly extracted €115m from more than 46,000 Swedish pensioners. Sweden had earlier pursued criminal proceedings against Serwin in relation to his involvement. In April 2020, he was convicted in Sweden of aggravated fraud, aiding and abetting disloyalty to a principal, and aggravated giving of bribes......

In this issue: Pension Schemes Bill Funding, surplus and investment Pension Protection Fund Pensions Dashboards Dates for your diary Trackers Pension Schemes Bill Call for evidence on Pension Schemes Bill launched amid concerns over Bill’s investment mandation powers The House of Commons Public Bill Committee opened a call for evidence on 8 July 2025 concerning the Pension Schemes Bill. Its line-by-line scrutiny is due to begin on 2 September 2025, with a report expected by 23 October 2025. In the interim, the Committee invites those with pertinent expertise, practical experience, or a particular interest in the Bill to send written submissions swiftly so they can be considered before the deadline. Once the Committee finishes its examination of the Pension Schemes Bill, it will no longer accept written evidence. This request follows the Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Commons on 7 July 2025, presented by the Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell,...

Broadstone reported that defined benefit ( DB) scheme funding crept upwards during the first half of 2025, notwithstanding the disruption arising from the Liberation Day US tariffs unveiled on 2 April 2025. However, it warned of 'clouds on the horizon', hinting at potentially greater market volatility as the temporary suspension of US trade tariffs is due to lapse on 9 July 2025 later this year......

The ACA reported that 63% of respondents to its survey agreed that pension trustees should not be required to distribute excess funds from DB pension schemes. In June 2025, the government set out proposals to allow employers to access an estimated £160bn of surpluses in DB schemes that meet 'low-dependency basis' conditions. These are described as arrangements sufficiently well hedged against risk, with assets adequate to ensure they will not need corporate sponsors to support them financially at a later date. The government says that around three-quarters of DB pension schemes are in surplus......

Anthony Arter, who left his post as interim chair of the Pensions Ombudsman on 30 June 2025, stated on 2 July 2025 that he wished ministers could secure extra funding for the Pensions Dishonesty Unit ( PDU) in due course. Arter set out this view in a letter to the parliamentary Work and Pensions Committee after it became clear that the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) had cut off financing for the PDU. Enquiries are, in effect, being paused after October 2025. ‘ The PDU was an important advance for the industry, offering a fresh route to bring wrongdoers to account through to final,......

The IFS outlined several policy proposals in a report that it said would address the current challenges facing the UK pensions system and help to solve the problems future generations of retirees might face Produced with the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, the study urges an overhaul of the UK state pension alongside steps to lift private pension saving and improve means-tested help for low-paid workers. It also recommends stronger guidance so people can steward their assets through retirement. Paul Johnson, the IFS Director and co-author, noted there is 'much to celebrate' about the pensions landscape, yet cautioned that policymakers risk complacency. He warned: ' Without decisive action, too many of today's working-age population face lower living standards and greater financial insecurity through their retirement'. Over two-and-a-half years, the review identified priorities to safeguard savers’ futures, from rising pressures on public finances as the...

FSB press release – 30 June 2025 In its 30 June 2025 press release, the FSB reported that members were uneasy about any alterations to automatic enrolment. Brought in during 2012, automatic enrolment requires employers to place staff into workplace retirement saving schemes by default. The FSB also voiced concern about Whitehall’s second phase of the Pensions Review. Trailed by the government in June 2025 as launching soon, this stage will home in on pensions adequacy — in other words, whether people are saving enough for a decent retirement, and how the system could better support that aim — across state and occupational pensions, as well as personal wealth......

Original news Mr H ( CAS-79442- Z7F9)—25 February 2025 Summary The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman dismissed a grievance concerning inaccurate information. The individual complaining was a deferred scheme member of a pension arrangement that later transferred into the Pension Protection Fund ( PPF). The complaint related to incorrect information supplied. On taking early retirement, the member’s pension was subject to a reduction. The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman concluded the calculation properly applied the reduction, and that any inconvenience experienced fell short of the bar for a distress payment. As a result, it failed. This matter underlines that distress payments are only made where a defined threshold is reached. What were the facts? Mr H held deferred status in the T& N Retirement Benefits Scheme (1989) (the Scheme)......

Original news Mr S ( CAS-98051- N8F9) —24 February 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman dismissed an allegation that the Pension Protection Fund ( PPF) deliberately kept back details of early retirement conditions to secure a financial advantage. Accordingly, the complaint was not upheld at all. It found the PPF had met its legal duties and could not be held accountable for actions by external parties occurring before its role in the scheme commenced. The PPF was under no requirement to alert the complainant to the implications of retiring early. The decision underlines the Ombudsman’s general hesitancy to place an advisory duty on scheme members... What were the facts? ......

On 30 June 2025, TPR reacted to the FCA’s consultation on a new targeted support framework for pensions and investments, pressing trustees to actively participate directly and submit responses so targeted support genuinely serves DC pension members. TPR’s appeal to scheme trustees came after the FCA unveiled what it calls a “once-in-a-generation” drive to narrow the advice gap across retirement saving. The FCA is worried that millions of UK savers, including DC members, are nearing retirement without obtaining financial advice. It is seeking pension providers, insurers, wealth managers and advisers to deliver more focused financial guidance to bridge that shortfall. The FCA’s attention is chiefly on DC arrangements, spanning workplace and non-workplace pensions. Defined benefit schemes will not be affected directly by targeted support, as there is far less room for consumers to choose how they build up benefits or draw them down. The focus...

Hannah Gurga, director at the ABI, noted on 23 June 2025 that the Whitehall strategy unveiled that day sets out a clear, firm long-term growth plan, a pledge to work closely with business, and the stable regulatory backdrop companies require to prosper. Branded a modern industrial strategy, it pinpoints eight sectors the government judges to hold the greatest scope for economic expansion, spanning advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and financial services such as banking and insurance. Spanning ten years, the blueprint contains policies intended by policymakers to spur investment and help firms in those areas scale. The 160-page document also proposes action to address steep industrial electricity prices, it states, as well as......

In this issue: The Pensions Regulator The Pensions Ombudsman Disputes and litigation New content Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers The Pensions Regulator DWP announces appointment of Kirstin Baker as interim chair of TPR The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) has confirmed the appointment of Kirstin Baker as interim chair of the Pensions Regulator ( TPR) from 1 August 2025, for a period of up to nine months. Baker, who is currently TPR’s Senior Independent Board Member, will replace Sarah Smart, whose tenure as chair has concluded, while the competition for the next full-term chair takes place. The interim chair brings substantial experience from prior roles at the Competition and Markets Authority ( CMA) and HM Treasury, where she received a CBE for work during the banking crisis. In this interim...

What is the background to the Pension Schemes Bill? The Pension Schemes Bill reached the House of Commons on 5 June 2025, which was hardly unexpected. It had featured in the King’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament for the new Labour Government in July 2024, and has been referenced on numerous occasions since. As is common with pensions legislation, it was designed to encompass a variety of issues, several of which had been under consideration by the Department of Work and Pensions ( DWP) for some years. Accordingly, its eventual arrival was widely anticipated. What are the key measures/provisions in the Bill? The Bill is arranged in five parts. The first part concentrates on defined benefit ( DB) schemes and addresses two quite distinct matters: Asset pooling for the Local Government Pension Scheme. Allowing trustees to agree to the return of surplus in a DB scheme to the...

On 17 June 2025, Pension Bee reported findings from a nationally representative poll of 1,000 UK adults, conducted in May 2025, clearly indicating that 57% of workers in the temporary economy are unable to put money aside for a pension scheme. The study, which focused on people either not contributing to a pension, or unsure whether they are making any contributions at all, showed that cost remains the chief barrier to building retirement savings for many. Among non-contributors, 60% of self-employed and freelance participants cited lack of affordability; similarly, 57% of unpaid carers and 46% of those on zero-hours contracts gave the same reason, the data shows from the research. Close to 30% also either did not know how to start pension saving, or considered retirement savings schemes too complex to navigate, according to the research findings in total......

In a report released on 16 June 2025, the NAO said the Cabinet Office has, over time, struggled to hold My CSP to account when outcomes dipped beneath the agreed service standards. It also said the ministerial office had failed to incentivise improvements through its contract with My CSP. According to the report, the NAO began its inquiry after complaints regarding the Civil Service pension scheme rose from 3,335 in the financial year ending in 2017 to 4,780 in the financial year ending in 2024. It also reported that members of the scheme had expressed concern about the service they had received. Since 2016, My CSP has managed the retirement savings arrangements for nearly 1.7 million members of the scheme under a contract with the government that costs £238m. The report states that My CSP agreed to a series of key service levels within the...

Clara superfund Clara superfund announced, in a statement, that 730 members of the Church Mission Society Pension Scheme are set to transfer under its stewardship, representing its first transaction with a not-for-profit employer and, overall, the fourth time assets have been transferred to the superfund. Positioned as a novel financial consolidation model, the superfund brings multiple DB schemes together so they can be run at a lower overall cost. Clara noted the agreement is the inaugural application of its ‘connected covenant structure’, enabling an ongoing guarantee from the Church Mission Society as the original sponsor, complemented by capital provided by the superfund. This covenant offers extra, long-term protection for members and bolsters the financial protections in place as the scheme advances towards an insured buy-out, Clara said. The organisation further anticipates that pension schemes with assets of up to £50bn could be...

The Littlewoods Pensions Trust Limited: Determination notice What are the practical implications of this case? The Determination adds a further route that can support pensions ‘endgame’ strategies. It serves as a marker for future TPR actions to unlock surplus that would otherwise be locked away at wind‑up. The ruling is immediately relevant to schemes encountering surplus that becomes trapped on winding‑up. That extends to certain schemes yet to begin winding‑up, though prospective legislative shifts for ongoing arrangements could benefit them in time. Whether any surplus is trapped turns on the scheme’s own rules, and the problem is most commonly seen in schemes established before 1970. Plenty of schemes can only aspire to having surplus at all. Sponsors and trustees may worry about ever reaching full funding, while others are finely tuning contributions to avoid overshooting the goal. Measures that prevent surplus becoming trapped could lift...

What was the background to the Pensions Investment Review and the two associated consultations on ‘ Unlocking the UK pensions market for growth’ and ‘ LGPS: Fit for the future’? The Review was set in motion by the new UK administration, aiming to channel more investment, lift returns for savers and cut inefficiency across the pensions landscape. It arrived amid worries that UK pension schemes, both DB and DC, were underexposed to domestic productive assets, including infrastructure and venture capital. Ministers observed that, relative to overseas counterparts, British funds allocated comparatively little to these areas, and that this position limited exposure to domestic growth opportunities. The exercise was also intended to look afresh at how the pensions ecosystem is organised overall, paying particular attention to workplace DC arrangements and the LGPS in particular. More broadly, the Review sat within a wider...

Original news Mr S ( CAS-78433- Y1Y8)—18 February 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman has upheld a complaint concerning a pension scheme’s inadequate and insufficient due diligence processes before entering into a high‑risk property investment. The investment was speculative and lacked any diversification. No prudent trustee would ever have pursued such an investment. The case clearly highlights that a professional trustee may still be liable for poor investment choices even where the complainant is a co‑trustee. What were the facts? Mr S was the only member and a co‑trustee of the Mr S Limited Executive Pension Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme’s trustees were Rowanmoor Trustees Limited ( RTL) alongside Mr S. Under the Scheme rules, trustee decisions had to be unanimous. At Mr S’s request, and without legal advice, the Scheme invested a large proportion of its assets in a German property company, including via loan notes. Sadly, the...