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