Wyn Derbyshire

This Practice Note looks at the express and implied pension rights that may exist in a contract of employment and how those rights may be varied, whether from a pensions, trust law or employment perspective. This Practice Note also looks at applicable consultation requirements and the degree of overlap that may exist between pensions and employment consultation requirements.

This Practice Note provides an introduction for persons who are new to pensions law to the tax regime applicable to pensions since A-Day (6 April 2006), in particular the conditions to satisfy to benefit from the tax advantages available in respect of registered pension schemes. This Practice Note explores the lifetime allowance, the annual allowance and authorised payments.

This Practice Note covers primary protection which is ones of the earliest forms of lifetime allowance (LTA) protection (introduced on A-day). Among other things, this Practice Note covers the interaction of primary protection with enhanced protection, the application process, the impact of pension debits on divorce, lump sum death benefits, auto-enrolment requirements and the loss of primary protection.

This Practice Note explores the pensions considerations which arise from providing life assurance benefits (also known as death-in-service benefits or life cover benefits) through registered pension schemes and standalone registered life assurance schemes. This Practice Note also looks at the characteristics of standalone life assurance schemes and considers the extent to which occupational pension schemes can provide only death-in-service benefits without infringing section 255 of the Pensions Act 2004.

This Practice Note looks at some of the issues that need to be considered when restructuring defined benefit schemes, including amendment of governing documentation, contractual entitlements, employee consultation, and liability under section 75 of the Pensions Act 1995.

This Practice Note considers one of the earlier personal pension schemes, the retirement annuity contract and how it differs from personal pension schemes available today.

This Practice Note looks at types of executive retirement benefit plans by considering the characteristics of funded unapproved retirement benefit schemes (FURBS) and unfunded unapproved retirement benefit schemes (UURBS), which existed before A-day (6 April 2006), and the Employer Financed Retirement Benefit Schemes (EFRBS) which replaced FURBS and UURBS after A-day. This Practice Note also considers the tax treatment of pension contributions into an EFRBS, including the effect of the disguised remuneration legislation introduced by the Finance Act 2011 (part of the Government’s ‘anti-tax avoidance’ campaign).

This Practice Note provides an introduction to scheme governance issues in defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes for those who are new to pensions law as well as for in-house lawyers who aren’t pensions experts. In particular, this Practice Note looks at the Pensions Regulator’s expectations.

This Practice Note looks at what is meant by a section 32 buy-out policy or (also referred to as a section 32 policy or buy-out policy); when a section 32 buy-out policy might be used; the tax position both pre and post 6 April 2006 (A-day) in relation to such policies; taking benefits under the section 32 policy; and the impact of block transfers.

This Practice Note provides an introduction for persons who are new to pensions law to the concept of a section 75 debt (also known as employer debt or statutory debt). It describes events leading to such a debt being triggered, the calculation of section 75 debts, the availability of a grace period, ways of dealing with a section 75 debt (either by way of an apportionment arrangement, a withdrawal arrangement or a deferred debt arrangement), relevant transfer deductions and group restructuring easements.

This Practice Note looks at the type of indemnities that may be encountered in share sales, including in relation to employer debt issues, the moral hazard powers of the Pension Regulator and sex equalisation issues. This Practice Note also looks at ways of limiting the scope of such indemnities, the type of factors that will determine their existence and drafting issues that may arise.

This Practice Note explains how to use a pension schedule on a share sale, the types of provisions commonly encountered in such a schedule and the issues that may occur when negotiating a pension schedule.

This Practice Note looks at the rules that apply to small self-administered pension schemes (SSASs), in particular in relation to borrowing, lending and investment, and how they have changed since 6 April 2006.

This Practice Note covers the legal requirements relating to the establishment, maintenance and winding-up of stakeholder pension schemes, including registration, the charging regime, with-profit funds, appointment of a reporting accountant, disclosure of information to members, the annual declaration, the annual statement, investment of funds, investment advice, the statement of investment principles, winding-up provisions, and terms for transfers in a winding-up. This Practice Note also covers the specific legal requirements that apply to trust-based stakeholder pension schemes.

This Practice Note considers the extent to which accrued pension rights under registered occupational pension schemes can be surrendered or forfeited. In particular, this Practice Note looks at the Pensions Act 1995, ss 91–93, the Occupational Pension Schemes (Assignment, Forfeiture, Bankruptcy etc.) Regulations 1997 SI 1997/785, and the case IMG v German.

This Practice Note examines the powers of the Pensions Regulator to suspend or prohibit trustees of occupational pension schemes, and the statutory grounds on which an individual or other legal person may be disqualified from acting as a trustee of an occupational pension scheme.

This Practice Note covers the operation of the pension tax regime’s annual allowance (AA) and money purchase annual allowance (MPAA) rules under the Finance Act 2004. The annual allowance has applied from the tax year 6 April 2006 onwards. This Practice Note also covers annual allowance tapering from 6 April 2016, the three-year carry forward (also known as ‘carry over’) rules, the annual allowance charge, the circumstances in which the charge does not arise, pension input periods and pension input amounts, scheme pays, the deferred member exemption, pension savings statements, the reporting requirements relating to the annual allowance and the transitional annual allowance rules applicable to the tax year 2015/16.

This Practice Note covers the Fraud Compensation Fund (FCF), which was established as a statutory fund under section 188 of the Pensions Act 2004 for the purpose of providing compensation to the trustees or scheme managers of occupational pension schemes where the value of a scheme's assets has suffered a reduction attributable to an act or omission constituting an offence of dishonesty. In particular, this Practice Note looks at the obligation to make fraud compensation payments, the funding of the FCF, and the availability of the FCF to pension liberation victims following the High Court’s decision in Board of the PPF v Dalriada Trustees.

This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. It explains the operation of the lifetime allowance (LTA) regime before its abolition on 6 April 2024, including when and how the lifetime allowance was tested and the lifetime allowance charge. It also looks at the circumstances in which individuals would have applied for protection against reductions in the lifetime allowance figure (including through enhanced protection, primary protection, fixed protection and individual protection).

This Practice Note explains the rationale for the introduction of the Lifetime ISA, the relevant legal framework, the key characteristics of the Lifetime ISA, including the 25% bonus paid by the government, and the circumstances in which a withdrawal may be made from a Lifetime ISA without a 25% charge being applied.