Commercial analysis: This is an important decision as to a seller’s ability to claim in debt for the price of unpaid goods notwithstanding a retention of title provision in the contract of sale. The judgment contains a useful analysis as to the requirement, in section 49(2) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (SGA 1979), for a price to be payable on ‘a day certain irrespective of delivery’, confirming that a wide interpretation should be adopted. The case also contains guidance as to construing guarantees and the operation and effect of the doctrine of contractual estoppel. Written by Nicola Allsop, barrister at Quadrant Chambers.

Most companies supplying materials or goods within the construction industry do so using standard written terms and conditions. These terms will normally include a retention of title clause (sometimes called an ROT, reservation of title, or Romalpa clause). The aim of a retention of title clause is to reserve property or title in the goods to the seller (eg a sub-contractor) until the price is paid in full, even though the goods have been delivered to the buyer (ie to the contractor on site). For suppliers and sub-contractors in particular, a retention of title clause may provide some financial protection in the event of main contractor insolvency. In any insolvency situation it is important to establish which party owns the goods or materials being used in the works, and the standard forms deal with ownership of unfixed materials. However, matters can become more complicated where parties further down the contractual chain have included competing retention of title clauses in their own agreements. This Practice Note looks at retention of title specifically in the context of construction

Law360: An appeals tribunal ruled 24 June 2024 that the Ministry of Justice did not discriminate against three judges when it switched their pension schemes, ruling that their new judicial posts—rather than their part-time worker status, caused the change.

This Practice Note considers the legal issues that may arise in relation to retirement from employment, including discrimination, justification of a fixed retirement age and dismissal, and some of the practical issues surrounding retirement including flexible retirement, workplace discussions, poor performance, sickness, health and safety, insured benefits, pensions and employee share schemes. From October 2006, the Employment Equality Act (Age) Regulations 2006: • made it unlawful to discriminate against workers, employees and others on the grounds of age • introduced a default retirement age (DRA) of 65 for employees, and • made retirement a potentially fair reason for dismissal of an employee The DRA was subsequently abolished and the associated statutory retirement procedures repealed with effect from 6 April 2011. The government stated that it was repealing the DRA in order to ensure that no one should be deprived of the opportunity to work simply because they had reached a particular age. As a result, retirement ‘age’ is usually now dictated by the employee, ie it is the age at which the employee chooses to retire. Some employers, however,

ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note considers one of the earlier types of personal pension schemes—the retirement annuity contract—and how it differs from modern personal pension schemes. For further information on personal pension schemes, see Types of personal pension schemes—overview. Personal pension schemes—central role in private pensions sector Personal pension schemes, in their various forms, play a central and important role in the UK private pensions sector today. They were first introduced on 1 July 1988 and offer a considerable degree of flexibility in that they are available to: • employees (with employers being permitted to contribute and claim the tax relief without a tax penalty falling on the employee) • the self-employed (and even to non-workers to an extent) Retirement annuity Contracts—background and aims However, personal pension schemes were preceded by another type of pension scheme—the Retirement Annuity Contract (RAC). Following the introduction of personal pension schemes on 1 July 1988, it is no longer possible to establish new RACs, but RACs established prior to that

The age by which an employee is taken to have retired from the employer's business.

An annuity contract between an insurance company or friendly society and a self-employed individual or a person in employment who did not have access to an occupational pension scheme, which was established before 1 July 1988.

The predecessors of personal pensions (often called section 226 policies). No new retirement annuities could be sold after 30 June 1988 but existing contracts can be continued. The fund to purchase pension at retirement is dependent on contributions paid and investment performance.

A retirement benefit scheme is any of the following: (1) a scheme which was approved under the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 (ICTA 1988), ch 1 Pt 14 (2) a relevant statutory scheme (as defined in the ICTA 1988, s 611A) (3) a scheme treated as a relevant statutory scheme (4) an old code scheme approved under the ICTA 1970, s 208 that has not received contributions since 5 April 1980.

FORTHCOMING CHANGE 1: Section 10 of the Finance Act 2022 will increase the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028 (save for members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes). The Finance Act 2022 will also give members of registered pension schemes a right to take their benefits before age 57, if on or before 4 November 2021 they either had an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits or were in the process of a substantive transfer to a scheme offering an unqualified right to a protected pension age of less than 57 on or before 4 November 2021. To benefit from this new 2028 protection, the rules of the pension scheme must have included (on 11 February 2021) an unqualified right to take the entitlement to scheme benefits before age 57. For further information, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age (NMPA) to 57—pensions impact. FORTHCOMING CHANGE 2: The FCA is developing a new targeted support regime, which aims to close

Since 6 April 2015, members are allowed to access ‘flexible benefits' (defined below) from normal minimum pension age, without restriction. There is no longer any obligation to purchase a lifetime annuity and members can access their pension pot by way of drawdown or one or more uncrystallised funds pension lump sums (UFPLSs). This is subject to the member's marginal income tax rate, although the member continues to benefit from a 25% tax-free lump sum. The government's aim in making these changes was to give members greater control over their finances and draw their pensions as they see fit. For further information, see Practice Note: Pension freedoms—an introduction [Archived]. To ensure that members with flexible benefits have sufficient information to make informed decisions about how to access their pension pot, with effect from 6 April 2015 changes were made to legislation and to the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook so as to require trustees, managers and providers of occupational and personal pension schemes to give retiring members with flexible benefits certain information

‘Retirement financial advice’ is widely defined as advice in respect of the person's financial position, including their pension arrangements and the use of their pension fund. This definition is meant to cover holistic retirement advice given on the basis of all factors relevant to a member’s retirement, not just the pension pot used to fund that advice.