Paul Newman KC considers the recent High Court decision in 3i PLC v Decesare , in which a fetter in a scheme amendment power which prohibited changes diminishing the accrued rights or interests  of members was held not to protect members’ future service rights. To read the article, click on the pdf below.

We are incredibly proud to announce that Paul was awarded the Wallace Medal for this website at the Association of Pensions Lawyers annual conference dinner last night. A huge thank you to all the contributors and readers who have supported the site for the past 3 years.

Paul is looking forward to seeing some of you in Leeds this week. In the meantime, Pensions Barrister will be back with more content next week.

In AD Bly Groundworks and Civil Engineering Ltd v HMRC  [2025] EWCA Civ 1443, the Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the Upper Tribunal that a company’s liabilities representing its promise to provide future pension benefits to key employees via an UURBS were incurred for the purpose of a tax avoidance scheme rather than expenses incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the company’s trade, so that those liabilities were not deductible from the company’s pr

In November 2024, the Deputy Pensions Ombudsman issued a 768-paragraph determination in which he found the trustees and managers of 3 pension schemes liable for dishonest breaches of duty with regard to the investment of scheme assets as part of a pension liberation exercise. An appeal from that determination has been dismissed by Richards J: Brambles Administration Limited v Harvey . The appeal was on limited grounds, relating to the time limits for bringing complaints, the

Samuel Fulda and Eoin O’Shea of CMS ask whether it is time for trustees and scheme employers to implement sanctions screening into their pension scheme administration. To read the article, click on the pdf below.

In a special edition of Talking Pensions (recorded in November 2025), Paul talks to Carly Barnes-Short and Sue Flood (pictured below), who are members of the Advisory Panel to the Parliamentary Investment Fraud Committee. They discuss the impact of pension and investment fraud on victims and on the changes to law and regulation that are needed to make the system work better. To read a transcript of this podcast, click on the pdf below.