Pension trustee liability

Our experience includes:  

• Multi-million pound claims arising from pension schemes changing benefits accrual from final salary to career average bases, with a key issue being whether the final salary link could be broken following Re Courage Group Pension Schemes [1987]. 

• Dealing with numerous claims, including group actions and Financial Ombudsman Service claims, involving unsuitable investments in UCIS within a SIPP. The investments have been diverse: sustainable agro energy, film financing, solar panels, farmland in Australia, Caribbean holiday homes, storage pods, rice fields in Sierra Leone, tree plantations, musical instruments, wine and teak forests.  

• Defending a group action against SIPP administrators and its insurers facing claims that it acted in breach of COBS 2.1.1 to act in the best interests of its client. Under s27 FSMA the claimants were entitled to have the transactions reversed because they entered into the transaction with the SIPP provider as a result of the activities of unregulated introducers.  

• Disputes arising from pension transfers, including advising in relation to a matter where a member transferred her pension into fraudulent overseas schemes, and providing coverage advice to insurers following the notification of claims arising from allegedly negligent pension transfers.  

• Resolving multi-million pound claims against actuaries and specialist pensions solicitors arising from allegedly negligent advice on a variety of issues, including revaluation, indexation, equalisation and scheme amendment.   

• Representing an actuary on a professional discipline matter before the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. 

We act for Lloyd’s and London market insurers, as well as their insured professionals. We act for all kinds and scale of financial institutions and professionals from solicitors, actuaries, trustees, financial advisors and investment managers.