New tPR guidance on choosing a pension scheme

The High Court has recently ordered a director, who was guilty of misfeasance and breaches of fiduciary duty while acting as the company's controlling director and shareholder, to draw down his pension benefits to pay a judgment debt...

Andrew Kyprianou and Colin Werb were trustees of the Eastman Machine Company Limited Superannuation Scheme. They were also employees of the scheme employer, Eastman Staples Limited.

Two former pension trustees, who persuaded 245 members of legitimate occupational pension schemes to transfer their pension savings into fraudulent schemes under their control, have been jailed for over 10 years. The pension liberation fraud occurred between 2012 and 2014, with a total value of £13.7m.

In a judgment that is likely to be of considerable interest to those administering and funding pensions schemes, the High Court has in Axminster Carpets Group Retirement Benefits Plan, Re [2021] EWHC 1652 (Ch) (Axminster Carpets) provided significant clarity on the approach to forfeiture and limitation in historic claims for underpayments, in addition to providing guidance on trustees’ exercise of discretion in such matters.

The Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) powers have long been relevant to corporate activity involving defined benefit (DB) schemes. However, the Pension Schemes Act 2021 (PSA2021) has now broadened the range of parties (including advisers and trustees) that are potentially subject to civil or criminal liability where corporate activity has a detrimental effect on a DB scheme.

According to complaints filed with Action Fraud UK, more than £30 million was reportedly lost to pension scammers since 2017. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) says the figure is likely to be much higher as savers often fail to spot the signs of a scam and may not know how much is in their pots.