Mark Ridler

This Practice Note considers the key areas when looking at the articles of association of a corporate pension trustee, including: the appointment and removal of trustee directors; trustee directors’ interests and conflicts and the impact of the Companies Act 2006; indemnity provisions for trustee directors; disqualification of trustee directors; the relationship of the sponsoring employer and the corporate trustee and the interaction between the scheme rules and the articles of association of the corporate trustee.

This Practice Note covers refunds of surplus to the employer while an occupational pension scheme is ongoing (as opposed to winding up). In particular, this Practice Note looks at the circumstances in which the power to refund such surplus arises, the statutory requirements applicable, the impact of the Pensions Act 2004, s 251, the tax treatment of a surplus payment, and any applicable penalties for breach.

This Practice Note summarises a typical pension buy-in/buy-out process and then considers the content of the quotation and the policy terms and conditions, including benefits and alterations to benefits, payments and adjustments, data cleansing, scheme administration during the buy-in period, issuing personal policies at the buy-out stage, warranties and indemnities, trustee liability, cancellation and termination, and data protection.

This Practice Note looks at matters that trustees should consider in the recovery of a section 75 debt / employer debt / statutory debt, including the process for calculating and claiming a section 75 debt, its enforcement, how interest may be recovered on late payment, dealing with a shortfall in the recovery of the section 75 debt and the issue of statutory discharges for trustees when the debt is paid.