Perennial Pensions

Some pensions issues arise time and again, popping up like garden perennials.

Take scheme amendments, procedural irregularities and legal uncertainty. In June 2023, in the Virgin Media case, the High Court considered the need for an actuarial certificate when salary related contracted out schemes were making changes to benefits between 6 April 1997 and 2016.  The Court held that any amendments which affected relevant benefits were void without the appropriate statutory certificate, whether or not the changes adversely affected members. An appeal due to be heard this month may provide clarification, but meanwhile uncertainty reigns, as legal opinion differs about the implications of the judgement and the desirability of remedial action such as a proactive audit of past amendments. A storm in a teacup possibly, but a headache for schemes wanting to buy out.

Or take the many reminders from the wider world of the importance of pension provision and the need to adapt to prevailing circumstances. In May 1944, as the Allies were gearing up for D Day that June, the Minister of Pensions made The War Pensions (Coastguards) Scheme under which coastguards killed or injured on war service were to be treated as naval personnel for pension purposes. A schedule to the regulations set out the rank of those in the coastguard service (such as Inspector or Station Officer) and assigned them a comparable Naval rank (Captain and Chief Petty Officer) respectively.

Pensions Archive Trust Director, Jane Marshall

https://pensionsarchive-org-uk.stackstaging.com/our-collections/

This article was first published in the June 2024 edition of Pensions Age magazine.