In the matter of the Nortel Companies; In the matter of the Lehman Companies; In the matter of the Lehman Companies No 2 – Supreme Court
Supreme Court, 24th July 2013
Category: pensions
In re Nortel GmbH (in administration) and related companies; In re Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) and related companies (Nos 1 and 2) – WLR Daily
“A company’s liabilities arising from financial support directions or contribution notices issued by the Pensions Regulator under the Pensions Act 2004 after the company had gone into administration, which required the company to put in place financial support for an occupational pension scheme, did not rank as an expense of the administration under rule 2.67(1)(f) of the Insolvency Rules 1986. However, where by the date on which the company went into administration it had for the preceding two years been vulnerable to a liability under a pension scheme, that liability was an obligation which ranked in the administration as a provable debt of the company.”
WLR Daily, 24th July 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Nortel decision restores claims by the Pensions Regulator to position envisaged by Parliament, expert says – OUT-LAW.com
“Claims by the Pensions Regulator in relation to an insolvent company’s pension scheme rank as provable debts alongside the claims of other unsecured creditors, the UK’s highest court has ruled.24 Jul 2013.”
OUT-LAW.com, 24th July 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
Regina (Government Actuary’s Department) v Pensions Ombudsman – WLR Daily
“The Government Actuary’s Department performed an important proactive role, by producing and from time to time revising the actuarial tables, which was central to the administration and proper operation of the firefighters’ public sector pension scheme, and as such was ‘concerned with the … administration of … the scheme’, within the meaning of section 146(4)(b) of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, as substituted.”
WLR Daily, 22nd July 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Supreme Court to rule on pension scheme insolvency ranking next week – OUT-LAW.com
“The UK’s highest court will rule on whether an insolvent company’s pension schemes can take priority over other company debts on Wednesday, according to its website.”
OUT-LAW.com, 19th July 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
Pension liberation test case gets underway at High Court – OUT-LAW.com
“A test case to establish whether a number of pension schemes which allowed members access to their savings before the minimum retirement age were legal has begun at the High Court.”
OUT-LAW.com, 16th July 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
Government not planning to create single defined contribution pensions regulator – OUT-LAW.com
“The Government is not planning to combine the roles of the Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to create a single regulator of workplace defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, it has confirmed.”
OUT-LAW.com, 2nd July 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
Divorcing a bankrupt, Part II: where insolvency law meets financial remedies – Family Law Week
“Henry Clayton of 4 Paper Buildings outlines the consequences where a party to financial remedy proceedings becomes bankrupt after the making of a final order.”
Family Law Week, 28th June 2013
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
HMRC “to de-register 500 pension providers” as part of pension liberation crackdown – OUT-LAW.com
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is preparing to de-register up to 500 pension providers as part of its ‘pension liberation’ compliance efforts, according to press reports.
OUT-LAW.com, 2nd July 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
Trustees of the Lehman Brothers Pension Scheme and another v LB Re Financing No Ltd and another – WLR Daily
“When the Pensions Regulator, acting by the determinations panel, made a determination about a financial support direction in relation to a pension scheme, the trustees of that scheme, by virtue of their office, were persons “directly affected” by that determination for the purposes of section 96(3) of the Pensions Act 2004, and accordingly had standing as of right to refer that determination to the Upper Tribunal under that provision. Further, where any person referred such a determination of the Regulator to the Upper Tribunal under section 96(3) of the Act, the two-year time limit in section 43(9), which, prior to amendment by the Pensions Act 2011, required the Regulator to issue a financial support direction within two years of the time which he selected for determining whether the preconditions in section 43(2) for the issue of a direction had been fulfilled, did not apply to any directions which the Upper Tribunal might give regarding a financial support direction under section 103(5) and (6), or to any order made on appeal from those directions.”
WLR Daily, 21st June 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Finance and Divorce update – Family Law Week
“Anna Heenan, solicitor and David Salter, Joint Head of Family Law at Mills & Reeve LLP analyse the financial remedies and divorce news and cases published in May.”
Family Law Week, 7th June 2013
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Divorcee keeps £100,000 pension overpayment in ‘David v Goliath’ victory – Daily Telegraph
“A woman who received almost £100,000 too much from a pension company will keep the money, an ombudsman has decided.”
Daily Telegraph, 14th May 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Carers to receive legal rights under new laws – Daily Telegraph
“Hundreds of thousands of people who care for elderly or disabled relations will be given new rights to state support for the first time, Norman Lamb, the Care and Support Minister, says.”
Daily Telegraph, 7th May 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Moratorium in fee-paid judicial pension cases – Ministry of Justice
“Following the case of O’Brien v Ministry of Justice and the decision of the UK Supreme Court that fee-paid Recorders are entitled to a pension, The Lord Chancellor has written today to the Lord Chief Justice, the Lord Chief Justice Northern Ireland, the Lord President of the Court of Session, the President of the UK Supreme Court and the Senior President of Tribunals to announce a moratorium in fee-paid judicial pension cases.”
Ministry of Justice, 5th April 2013
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
Salgado González v Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS) and another – WLR Daily
“Article 48FEU of the FEU Treaty and articles 3, 46(2)(a) and 47(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community (as amended), precluded legislation of a member state under which the theoretical amount of the retirement pension of a self-employed worker, migrant or non-migrant, was invariably calculated on contribution bases paid by that worker over a fixed reference period preceding the payment of his last contribution in that member state, to which a fixed divisor was applied, when it was impossible for either the duration of that period or the divisor to be adapted so as to take account of the fact that the worker concerned had exercised his right to freedom of movement.”
WLR Daily, 21st February 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Part-time judges to get up to £2 billion in public pensions – Daily Telegraph
“Thousands of part-time judges will be entitled to a public-sector pension for the first time at a cost of up to £2 billion following a ruling by fellow judges in the highest court in the land.”
Daily Telegraph, 17th February 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Greater transparency at the heart of the Regulator’s determinations guidelines – 11 Stone Buildings
“The Pensions Regulator has published revisions to the current Determinations Panel procedure as well as a separate Case Team procedure following a period of consultation. The procedures detail the processes used by the Determinations Panel and the regulator’s case teams in cases where the final decision rests with the Panel. Thomas Robinson, barrister at 11 Stone Buildings, explains the key changes and their potential impact on pension schemes.”
11 Stone Buildings, February 2013
Source: www.11sb.com
Divorcees to plunder partners’ pensions – Daily Telegraph
“Divorcees who separated in the past 12 years could have to hand over more of their pension income to their former spouse. Pension funds are often the main asset of a marriage and are frequently more valuable than the home, but according to a report from Divorce LifeLine in as many as half of the 1.5 million divorce settlements in the UK since December 2000, the divorce pensions may have been undervalued.”
Daily Telegraph, 12th February 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Ministry of Justice (formerly Department of Constitutional Affairs) v O’Brien – WLR Daily
“A part-time fee-paid judge was a worker under European Union law and had a right not to be treated in a less favourable manner than comparable full-time workers. The denial of retirement pensions to part-judges when full-time judges were granted pensions was less favourable treatment for which there was no objective justification. Accordingly, on the basic principle of remunerating part-time workers pro rata temporis, a recorder was entitled to a pension on terms equivalent to those applicable to a circuit judge.”
WLR Daily, 6th February 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
O’Brien (Appellant) v Ministry of Justice (Formerly the Department for Constitutional Affairs) (Respondents) – Supreme Court
Supreme Court, 6th February 2013
