Oliver Hilton

This Practice Note focuses on rectification. It explains why rectification may be required in the context of pension documentation (eg trust deed and rules) and the circumstances in which the courts will order rectification. It also considers the evidence the courts will look for before rectifying a document, the procedure for making a rectification claim, the identity of the potential parties to the action and the merits of making such a claim.

This Practice Note looks at the issues relevant (including procedural and timing issues) when appealing a determination of the Pensions Ombudsman. As appeals can only be made on a point of law, it compares a point of law from a point of fact and also considers the potential for judicial review.

This Practice Note looks at the compromise of disputes relating to occupational pension schemes in England and Wales, including the reasons for agreeing a compromise, the effect of a compromise, the types of pension disputes, specific concerns when considering a compromise, trustee considerations, and other issues.

This Practice Note sets out the general principles relating to costs as they apply to pension scheme dispute resolution by the courts, the Pensions Regulator and the Pensions Ombudsman. In particular, in relation to the courts, it looks at trustees’ right of indemnity, the treatment of costs in each type of litigation in which trustees might become involved, costs protection for trustees, Beddoes applications and prospective costs orders. This Practice Note also covers the treatment of costs by the Pensions Regulator and the Pensions Ombudsman.

This Practice Note focuses on the case law relevant to the question of who owns a pension scheme surplus in an ‘overfunded’ scheme, both in relation to ongoing schemes and schemes in winding-up. It also considers the importance of the looking at the pension scheme rules in determining whether the surplus.

This Practice Note covers the key legal principles that trustees must follow when exercising a trustee discretion under the rules of a pension scheme and how they can avoid potential challenges to the exercise of their discretionary powers. In particular, the Practice Note looks at the considerations for trustees when dealing with an application for early retirement on the grounds of ill-health or when deciding how to exercise their discretion to pay lump sum death benefits.

This Practice Note explores the boundaries of a trustee’s duty not to fetter his discretion. In particular, it looks at what the duty means, how it applies to trustees of occupational pension schemes, qualifications and exceptions to the duty, what trustees should take into account in light of the duty, whether comparisons with the public law duty of a decision-maker not to fetter his discretion are helpful, the impact of breaching the duty, whether it could be said that there is no longer such a duty, and the relationship between fetters and estoppel.

This Practice Note looks at the legal requirements and formalities for executing pension scheme documents (specifically deeds and written contracts under hand) that apply to companies (eg participating employers or corporate trustees), limited liability partnerships (LLPs), general partnerships, limited partnerships, overseas companies, and individuals (eg individual trustees). It also looks at when a deed is delivered, as well as covering the legal requirements for the witnessing of documents, the virtual signing and execution of documents, electronic signatures, and the impermissibility of backdating documents.

This Practice Note covers what scope there is for making a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman (PO), including the persons eligible to apply to the Pensions Ombudsman to make a complaint, the type of matter that can be referred to the Pensions Ombudsman, steps that must be taken before a complainant can apply to the Pensions Ombudsman (ie going through a scheme’s internal dispute resolution procedure), the time limits to complain. It also looks at the steps involved in dealing with the complaint (ie the complainant’s application, the respondent’s response, the investigation and the determination), enforcement issues and appeals.

This Practice Note provides an introduction for persons who are new to Pensions law to the recourses available when a pension issue is in dispute (whether under an occupational pension scheme, a personal pension scheme or the state pension). This includes internal dispute resolution procedures, the Pensions Ombudsman, the courts, the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

This Practice Note considers the issues relevant when pension scheme trustees make professional negligence claims against their advisers, including duty of care issues, limitation periods, Beddoe applications and cost considerations. This Practice Note also looks at common claims made by trustees against their advisers, including in relation to payment errors, failed equalisation and drafting mistakes in scheme documentation.

This Practice Note focuses on privilege, ie the ability to withhold documents from someone’s inspection, in the context of pensions. It distinguishes between legal advice privilege and litigation privilege and sets out the requirements for each and when privilege is lost. Finally, this Practice Note considers the scope of privilege vis-à-vis the courts, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pensions Regulator.

This Practice Note looks at the making of representation orders in pensions litigation. In particular, it covers what a representative party is, when and why representation orders are made, jurisdiction to appoint a representative party, types of representation orders, who may be appointed a representative party, consent and notification of the represented class, duty, role and costs of the representative party, compromise involving a representative party, and the effect of a representation order.

This Practice Note focuses on sectionalised schemes (also known as segregated schemes), including what they are, their tax treatment and their legislative treatment for the purposes of the statutory funding regime, the section 75 regime and the Pension Protection Fund regime. This Practice Note also looks at the consequences of winding up a sectionalised scheme.

This Practice Note looks at the jurisdiction of the Pensions Ombudsman to deal with occupational and personal pension-related complaints and disputes, including who can make or refer complaints/disputes, the types of complaints/disputes that can and cannot be determined, the powers he may exercise in doing so and applicable time limits.

This Practice Note looks at the tax charges that apply in respect of unauthorised payments made by registered pension schemes, including unauthorised payment charges and, in certain circumstances, unauthorised payment surcharges and scheme sanction charges. This Practice Note also looks at the de-registration risks that arise from making too many unauthorised payments, the ability to apply for a discharge of a tax charge by HMRC and reporting requirements.

This Practice Note looks at the restrictions on the reduction of a person’s pension entitlement under an ongoing registered defined benefit pension scheme, in particular the provisions of sections 91–93 and section 67 of the Pensions Act 1995, and the provisions of the scheme’s governing documentation. It also looks at how reducing a pension in payment is treated under the pensions tax regime and at some examples of common scenarios in which pensions reduction can occur.

This Precedent is suitable for use by the trustees of a pension scheme to record minutes of a trustee meeting concerning the exercise of a pension trustee power or discretion.

This Q&A considers whether costs budgets are required to be filed where the legally represented claimant has issued a probate claim against a litigant in person by Part 7 proceedings, which also seeks by way of alternative remedy an order under I(PFD)A 1975, where the claim form states that it is valued at less than £10m, and at the first CMC the matter is allocated to the multi-track.

This Q&A considers whether there are any restrictions on, or tax consequences as a result of, trustees of UK-based pension scheme being resident out of the jurisdiction.