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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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In this issue: Pension Schemes Bill Salary sacrifice Scheme governance CDC schemes Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Pension Schemes Bill Employer surplus-payment provisions pass Grand Committee scrutiny unchanged On day three of Grand Committee consideration of the Pension Schemes Bill (19 January 2026), the Lords examined Clauses 9–10 concerning distribution of scheme surpluses. Peers tabled a suite of tightening measures: redefining ‘surplus’ as ‘assets’; obliging employers to share surpluses with members; compelling benefit uplifts, including inflation protection; bolstering member and union engagement; curbing the Secretary of State’s regulation-making remit; placing actuarial and endgame provisions on the face of the Bill; and revising insolvency ranking where employers had previously extracted surplus. Ministers, fronted by Baroness Sherlock, resisted, rejecting rigid statutory prescriptions in favour of a regime built on trustee judgement, fiduciary...
In this issue: Pension Schemes Bill Taxation of pensions Public sector pension schemes Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Pension Schemes Bill Pensions Schemes Bill makes progress during early stage of Grand Committee examination despite strong reservations on LGPS reforms On 12 January 2026, the House of Lords Grand Committee ( Grand Committee) commenced its line-by-line review of the Pension Schemes Bill. The first sitting centred on Chapter 1, dealing with the Local Government Pension Scheme ( LGPS), with particular attention to Clause 1 (asset pool companies) and Clause 2 (asset management). In the event, all amendments discussed that day were withdrawn, and both clauses were formally approved without alteration, after detailed discussion on the day. Even so, the exchanges exposed broad, cross-party anxiety over the scope of ministerial powers, the dependence on delegated...
PAG, in a letter dated 11 January 2026, warned that existing plans to pay only 'progressive' increases in benefits from January 2027 might arrive too late for many pensioners. In December 2025 the government, responding to pressure from campaigners, said it would insert fresh measures into the Pension Schemes Bill to provide benefit increases from January 2027 to pensioners receiving payments via the Financial Assistance Scheme ( FAS) or the Pension Protection Fund ( PPF). Under the rules of the FAS and the PPF, pensioners who accrued benefits prior to April 1997 have been denied inflation-linked annual increases, also widely known as indexation adjustments......
What problem is the government diagnosing with the current trusteeship and governance model? What is the government really trying to achieve with this consultation? The pensions landscape is shifting. Change is already evident through the rise of master trusts and the growing tendency for schemes to appoint professional trustees, including professional corporate sole trustees. Further major reforms are expected under the Pension Schemes Bill, paving the way for defined contribution ( DC) megafunds and giving trustees expanded duties and powers: conducting value for money assessments, offering guided retirement solutions within DC arrangements, permitting payment of surplus to employers, and facilitating transfers to defined benefit ( DB) superfunds for DB schemes. Alongside this, the government seeks to widen the range of scheme investments and to boost allocation to UK productive assets. However, consolidation of DC schemes and the spread of...
Places for People Pension Trustee Ltd v Places for People Group Ltd and others [2025] EWHC 3371 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? Richards J applied the settled principles of rectification in the pensions sphere. The judgment demonstrates that correction of deeds executed many decades ago remains achievable, notwithstanding a scarcity of witness evidence. Although the absence of opposition to rectification is neither required nor decisive, the court was comforted by a robust and methodical process that evaluated the factual matrix and the legal foundation of the claim. As with any approval of a compromise, the outcome here was fact-specific and creates no binding precedent. Nevertheless, practitioners are aided by the court’s guidance on the approach to be adopted when deciding whether a proposed settlement is in the interests of all represented persons. It is also both...
In this issue: Value for money Pension Schemes Bill National Insurance Contributions ( Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill Collective defined contribution schemes The Pensions Ombudsman Funding, surplus and investment Pensions dashboards Members and benefits Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Value for money Joint TPR and FCA VFM proposals seek to improve transparency and comparability in DC pension schemes On 8 January 2026, the Pensions Regulator ( TPR) and the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) issued a joint regulatory consultation and accompanying response ( CP26/1), outlining a consistent approach for a new value for money ( VFM) framework across defined contribution ( DC) workplace pensions. Their intent is to pivot the industry away from narrow, price-focused assessments towards a broader, comparable view of the value delivered to pension savers across both...
Original news Source: Hansard Ho L: Pension Schemes Bill Volume 851: debated on Thursday 18 December 2025. News summary The Pension Schemes Bill reached the Ho L as a sweeping structural overhaul designed to modernise the UK pensions landscape. It was presented as a cornerstone reform effort. Ministers said the legislation seeks to deliver better outcomes for savers by bringing together dispersed schemes, tightening governance, boosting value for money and unlocking pension capital to back UK economic growth, while tackling a series of matters affecting defined benefit ( DB) and defined contribution ( DC) arrangements, the Local Government Pension Scheme ( LGPS) and the Pension Protection Fund ( PPF). The government further underlined to the Ho L that the Bill targets market design and efficiency rather than pension adequacy, a question they have parked with the newly re-established Pensions Commission. Although peers largely endorsed the Bill’s aims, the...
Original news Mr R ( CAS-45657- B7R7)—30 July 2025 Summary The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman partially upheld a complaint regarding the division of scheme assets and maladministration within a small self-administered pension scheme. As unanimity was required, yet the resolution permitting the division lacked signatures from all trustees, the split was invalid. There were also several administrative shortcomings by the scheme’s independent trustee and, consequently, the independent trustee was required to refund its fees. The complainant received £2,000 for the severe distress and inconvenience arising from the SSAS’s maladministration. The decision serves as a reminder that, where unanimity is mandated, every trustee must be engaged in any determination. What were the facts? Mr R was a member of the Selven Pension Scheme (the Scheme). The Scheme was a small self-administered scheme ( SSAS), with James Hay Partnership ( JHP) acting as the independent trustee and...
Original news Mr L ( CAS-74325- Z1Q4)—21 August 2025 Summary The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman has dismissed a complaint about an employer’s refusal to award a discretionary rise to benefits built up before April 1997. The employer acted in line with the scheme’s pension increase provision and considered the issue appropriately. As a result, there was no maladministration and no basis on which the Deputy Pensions Ombudsman could disturb the outcome. The decision highlights the significant difficulty in mounting a successful challenge to the exercise of an employer’s discretion... What were the facts? Mr L was a pensioner member of the Hewlett Packard Limited Retirement Benefits Plan (the Scheme)......
Original news Mrs N ( CAS-121348- Z6R0)—28 July 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman has dismissed a complaint seeking repayment of legal fees. While the central dispute — backdating an ill-health early retirement pension to the member’s final day of employment — had been resolved, the complainant pursued recovery of her legal costs. The Ombudsman declined the request, stating that costs are only reimbursed in exceptional circumstances and this matter was not particularly complex. The complainant was nevertheless awarded compensation for exceptional distress and inconvenience. This decision serves as a reminder that it is very uncommon for a complainant to have legal fees reimbursed. What were the facts?......
Summary The Pensions Ombudsman partially upheld a complaint concerning the recovery of pension paid in error. The member was awarded compensation for distress and inconvenience because the Scheme took an excessive length of time to correct the overpayment. However, she could not rely on a change of position defence, as she ought to have recognised that the salary and service figures on her retirement statement were overstated. This decision underlines that a change of position argument will only succeed where complainants act in good faith... What were the facts? Mrs N was a member of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (the Scheme). Shortly before retiring in 2012, she received a benefit statement indicating entitlement to a pension and lump sum of £15,647, calculated using an annual salary of £33,116. The statement carried a disclaimer marking it as an interim award and confirmed the Scheme was awaiting...
Original news Source: Hansard Debate: National Insurance Contributions ( Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill, Volume 777: debated on Wednesday 17 December 2025 News summary MPs have approved the Second Reading of the National Insurance Contributions ( Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill following a concise yet pointed Commons exchange on 17 December 2025. The government measure (bill 344 in the 2024–25 session), brought forward on 4 December 2025, would create a power to levy NICs on pension salary sacrifice amounts above £2,000 per year, with implementation scheduled for April 2029. Ministers contended the proposal is a proportionate, targeted step to contain the fast-escalating fiscal cost of NIC relief for salary sacrifice—projected to almost triple by the decade’s end—and to bolster fairness, as many employees have no access to salary sacrifice at all. Opposition parties countered that the plan would deter saving, increase expense and...
Original news Mrs E ( CAS-48733- H1L4)—16 July 2025 Summary The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman dismissed a formal grievance alleging that pausing a spouse’s pension in a public sector pension arrangement breached the complainant’s right to a family life and amounted to unlawful age-based discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights ( ECHR). The pause came within the carve-out that the measure was “in accordance with the law and… necessary for the economic well-being of the country”. It was not discriminatory because the interference with her rights was not disproportionate. This decision indicates that the reach of the ECHR will sometimes need to be weighed in public sector pension matters. What were the facts? Mrs E was a pensioner member of the 1995 section of the NHS Pension Scheme (the Scheme). She was in receipt of a widow’s pension which, under the Scheme’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...
Summary The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman has dismissed a grievance concerning whether unpaid leave counted as pensionable service for an individual holding protected person status following electricity privatisation. Although the claimant’s electricity pension arising from privatisation was safeguarded by statute on employment transfer, that safeguard did not cover provisions treating periods of unpaid absence as pensionable; the Deputy Pensions Ombudsman viewed that as a discretionary facility. The decision underlines the need to separate enforceable rights from employer or scheme discretions for electricity sector members benefiting from protected person safeguards. What were the facts? Mr Y previously belonged to the Capita Pension and Life Assurance Scheme (the Capita Scheme) and the ATOS UK 2011 Pension Scheme (the ATOS Scheme). He had earlier worked within the electricity industry and qualified as a ‘protected person’ under the Electricity ( Protected Persons) Pensions Regulations ( Northern Ireland) 1992 (the...
In this issue: Trusteeship and scheme governance Automatic enrolment Collective defined contribution schemes Overpayments Investment Dates for your diary Trackers Daily and weekly news alerts This edition is our last Weekly Highlights of 2025. Our first Weekly Highlights for 2026 will appear on 8 January 2026, with emails to customers sent on 9 January 2026. To learn how to stay informed with both daily and weekly updates, please refer to the ‘ Daily and weekly news alerts’ section for guidance. From everyone in the Pensions team, we hope you enjoy the festive season and wish you a happy new year. Trusteeship and scheme governance DWP opens consultation to enhance pension scheme trusteeship, governance and administration The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) has begun a consultation to raise standards of trusteeship, governance and administration for trust-based pension schemes, running until 6 March 2026. Key proposals...
In this issue: Targeted support regime Trustees, governance and administration Personal pension schemes Funding and investment Pensions dashboards Public sector pension schemes Dates for your diary Trackers Targeted support regime HM Treasury and FCA finalise framework for new targeted support regime On 11 December 2025, HM Treasury ( HMT) and the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) confirmed the design of the forthcoming targeted support regime—hailed as the most substantial shift to the advice/guidance divide in over ten years. After parallel consultations in summer 2025, the government and the FCA have published their decisions and implementation timetables. The framework is intended to tackle the longstanding ‘advice gap’ by permitting authorised firms to deliver personalised, recommendation-led assistance to cohorts of consumers with comparable profiles and situations, without amounting to ‘advising on investments’ under Article 53 RAO of the...
Original news Source: FCA Consultation Paper CP25/39: Updating our requirements for a changing pensions market News summary CP25/39 outlines FCA plans to refresh pensions regulation in light of the rapid swing to a DC-led market, where savers carry greater responsibility for retirement choices. Building on DP24/3 and allied reforms - the Value for Money framework, pensions dashboards and targeted support - the FCA intends to modernise rules to better enable informed decision-making. It proposes a more adaptable regime for digital pension projection tools to help members grasp options and likely outcomes, alongside a mandatory comparison step for non-advised DC-to- DC transfers so consumers can weigh charges, investment options and any potential loss of benefits before acting. While this adds time at the outset, the FCA expects better outcomes, fewer abandoned transfers and stronger competition. Proposals on self-invested personal pensions ( SIPPs) are due in early 2026. The FCA will...
3i Plc v Decesare (as representative member of the 3i Group Pension Plan) and other companies [2025] EWHC 3023 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? It is commonly understood that a ruling fixing the meaning of terms in one instrument does not bind a later court faced with different wording, yet earlier decisions can still carry weight as illustrations of how particular expressions might be interpreted elsewhere, in light of the reasoning for preferring one construction over another. In British Broadcasting Corporation v BBC Pension Trust [2024] EWCA Civ 767 (the BBC case), the Court of Appeal examined an amendment power which barred changes from operating in relation to active members whose interests were said by the scheme actuary to be affected, save where specified exceptions applied. No amendment was to take effect for active members unless one of several...
WASPI On 2 December 2025, WASPI said it had pulled its judicial review after the government pledged to look again, within three months, at its stance against compensating millions of women. In June 2025, the High Court then granted WASPI permission to challenge the government’s original decision, and a judicial review hearing had been formally listed for 9–10 December 2025. Angela Madden, chair of the campaign, warned ministers that it 'should be in no doubt that WASPI stands ready to return to court early in the new year if it yet again fails to do the right thing'. Pat Mc Fadden, secretary of state for work and pensions, stated in a letter to MPs published in November 2025 that the government would 'retake' its initial decision originally taken in 2024......
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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