“This should not have happened”, says the statement on Australian pension fund UniSuper’s website, referring to a technical error that led to widespread disruption. The exact cause of what went wrong is unclear. But an “inadvertent...
As a lawyer, my favourite answer to any question is “it depends”. But it is a truly fitting response to the question “Can surplus scheme funds be returned to the employer?” Rising funding levels and maturing schemes mean...
Find the gaps Are you wondering where to start or to resume work relating to the General Code? There’s no need to panic! Many schemes will already be operating policies, procedures and other governance tools, and completing a gap...
It’s an interesting time to be a trustee of a DB scheme. For the first time in a long time, many DB schemes are in a favourable funding position and, with the new DB funding regime around the corner, are going to have to look ahead and...
Following publication of the final version of TPR’s new general code of practice (the “Code”) in January 2024, the Code came into force on 28 March 2024. Signifying a new era for pension scheme governance and compliance, trustees...
Nearly a year after speaking at the LawDeb debate on the topic of whether DB surpluses should be returned to employers, the issue of surplus is attracting more attention than it has done since the 1980s. The DWP’s consultation on Options...
Were you ever the last person to leave a shared rental house? One of those big houses, which has seen occupants come and go, enjoyed good, bad and some definitely ugly times and had a rather, ahem, varied history in terms of maintenance...
The Pensions Regulator has made its position clear – diverse and inclusive boards make better decisions. So across the pensions industry, trustee boards are thinking about how to increase their diversity (it’s not always easy to...
Flick back through your trusted trustee meeting packs and you’ll find, doubtless tucked away somewhere near the back, the quarterly admin report. Always there. Always in the same format. (Almost) always rushed at the end of the...
Lawyers aren’t particularly well-known for their concise, accessible and easy to understand writing. But we should be, and we’ve come a long way from when every other sentence contained a Latin phrase and where commas were something...
