The recent court ruling known as “Lloyds 3” answered lots of questions about the need to revisit past transfer payments, where those transfer payments had been calculated without taking into account the obligation to equalise benefits for the effect of unequal guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs). However, the more we look at Lloyds 3, which focused on the obligations of the trustee of a number of pension arrangements connected with the Lloyds Banking Group, and try…

If you are a trustee, have you ever had one of those letters or emails questioning your investment strategy? I don’t mean questions about de-risking triggers, the security of counterparties or even strategic asset allocation queries, which are the stuff of trustee meetings. The type of enquiry I am referring to is the persistent member or activist (who are increasing in numbers in our experience) who is focused on the propriety of a scheme’s investment…

“Big Data” is a topic that is frequently referred to in the news.  The traditional definition of Big Data is data that contains greater variety, arriving in increasing volumes and with ever-higher velocity.  Whilst this definition isn’t typically of direct relevance to trustees of UK occupational pension schemes, it does have some application in the context of guaranteed minimum pension (GMP) equalisation. Trustees are already grappling with scheme data in connection with the submission of…

Section 9501 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”)[1] requires certain employers to offer free COBRA coverage to certain individuals between April 1, 2021 and September 30, 2021.  The ARPA provides tax credits to employers to offset the cost of the COBRA coverage.  The right to free COBRA coverage extends to some individuals whose right to COBRA coverage previously ended. The original version of this blogpost, written shortly after passage…

GMP Equalisation and Underpaid Cash Equivalent Transfer Values – Will Trustees Have to Trace and Compensate Members Proactively, or Can Trustees Wait for Claims? Shortly after the High Court decision commonly referred to as “Lloyds 3”, which considered the issue of guaranteed minimum pension (GMP) equalisation and the extent to which past transfers out should be revisited, we published a summary of the decision and our initial reaction. We continue to look at some of…

If you were under the impression that the single code of practice would be a consolidation of existing codes, then the content of this blog will come as a surprise! The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published a consultation on the first phase of replacing the existing Codes of Practice with a single, online Code of Practice (the New Code). The first phase involves converting 10 of the existing Codes of Practice into 51 shorter, topic-based…

This is a Supplement to our post on March 24, 2021 regarding Section 9641 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”). This Supplement addresses state and local governmental employers. Section 9641 of the Rescue Plan makes available tax credits to offset the costs borne by certain employers who voluntarily provide emergency paid sick leave and emergency paid family leave to employees for certain types of covered absences occasioned by the pandemic, from…