Criminal offences under the Pension Schemes Act 2021—impact for employers and trustees

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
Produced in partnership with Dawn Heath of Freshfields
Practice notes

Criminal offences under the Pension Schemes Act 2021—impact for employers and trustees

Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis

Produced in partnership with Dawn Heath of Freshfields

Practice notes
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The Pension Schemes Act 2021

On 11 February 2021, the Pension Schemes Act 2021 (PSA 2021) received Royal Assent. PSA 2021 amends the Pensions Act 2004 (PA 2004) to introduce a number of measures that have a significant impact on corporate and restructuring activity involving a company or a group which operates a UK defined benefit pension scheme, including:

  1. •

    two criminal offences—‘avoidance of employer debt’ and ‘risking accrued scheme benefits’ which came into force on 1 October 2021. These criminal offences are covered in this Practice Note

  2. •

    wider circumstances in which the Pensions Regulator (TPR) can issue a contribution notice (CN) under its ‘moral hazard powers’ to make third parties liable to contribute towards the funding deficit in a scheme by adding two threshold tests: the ‘employer insolvency test’ and the ‘employer resources test’. These additional tests also came into force on 1 October 2021. For a general overview of CNs, see Practice Note: Contribution Notices

  3. •

    extended information-gathering powers for TPR, including a power to require any person

Dawn Heath
Dawn Heath chambers

Partner, Freshfields

Dawn has been practising as a pensions lawyer at Freshfields since qualifying in 2000 and became a partner in 2013.  

Her practice focuses on UK defined benefit pension schemes and their associated challenges, with recent experience including advice on:

  • a range of significant pension projects, including complex funding and security arrangements, scheme consolidations and benefit issues; 
  • advising on regulatory investigations and settlement of those investigations, including investigations by the Pensions Regulator in respect of its contribution notice and financial support direction “moral hazard” powers;
  • the pensions implications of corporate activity, including M&A, reorganisations, takeovers, return of value to shareholders, re-financing / granting of security and joint ventures; and
  • pensions issues in distress situations.

Dawn is a member of the Legislative and Parliamentary Committee of the Association of Pension Lawyers. Through this, she has been proactively engaging with DWP and the Pensions Regulator on recent and proposed changes to pensions legislation and Pension Regulator powers, including the new criminal offences in the Pension Schemes Act 2021.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Pension scheme definition
What does Pension scheme mean?

A pension scheme is a scheme or other arrangement which is comprised in one or more instruments or agreements, having or capable of having effect so as to provide benefits to or in respect of persons on retirement, on death, on having reached a particular age, on the onset of serious ill-health or incapacity or in similar circumstances.

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