We are very sorry to report the death of John Quarrell, aged 77, one of the most distinguished and influential pensions solicitors of his generation. JQ (as he was widely known) joined Nabarro in the 1970s and went on to lead its pensions practice for 26 years, becoming one of the best-known names in the pensions industry. He was one of the founders of the APL and a former Chairman, as well as playing prominent roles in the wider pensions community through the NAPF and the PM

We are now taking a break until the Autumn, when we will be back with more content. In the meantime, we will of course continue to publish news items if relevant, because pensions news never sleeps and it certainly doesn't sunbathe.

The High Court has today handed down judgment in Northumbrian Water Ltd v Northumbrian Water Pension Trustees Ltd [2026] EWHC 1952 (Ch). The case concerned rules guaranteeing annual pension increases in line with RPI up to 5%, with any excess payable where the trustee considered, after consulting the scheme actuary, that this could be done without increasing the employer’s ordinary annual contributions. The disputed excess increases affected some 2,000 members and had an esti