Trustees are chosen because they can be relied on to make decisions. Yet illness, absence abroad or a loss of mental capacity can leave a trustee unable to act when a decision is due. Many people assume that a power of attorney solves the problem. In trust law it is...
Many owner-managed companies build up cash that is not needed for day-to-day trading. Leaving it in a business account can feel safe, but directors often ask whether it should be put to work instead. The answer depends on how the money is invested, how it is taxed and...
Auto-enrolment is often described as an employer duty, and in law that is correct. Yet when an employer uses a trust-based scheme, trustees carry a separate set of responsibilities that affect whether the scheme is fit to receive auto-enrolled members. Confusion over...
If you work in the UK and meet certain age and earnings conditions, you may already belong to a workplace pension without having made a conscious choice. That is how auto-enrolment is designed to work. Many employees only notice it when a pension line appears on their...
Pension schemes are built to last for decades, which makes them easy to forget. Once the trust is set up, the trustees are appointed and the investments are in place, day-to-day attention tends to fade. Years can pass before anyone asks whether the scheme is still...
Running a workplace pension scheme involves more than paying contributions or agreeing a funding plan once. Someone has to make decisions, keep records, follow regulation and answer to scheme members. In many organisations that work is shared between trustees and a...
Choosing who oversees your company pension scheme is not a decision to rush. The trustees and advisers you appoint will shape how well the scheme is run, how confident members feel about their benefits, and how much time your own team spends managing scheme queries....
Running a workplace pension scheme comes with legal duties that go well beyond paying money in and out. Someone has to make sure the scheme is managed properly, invested sensibly, and run in the best interests of its members. That someone is usually a trustee, and for...
Anyone who takes on a trustee role, or any employer relying on a trustee board to run its pension scheme, tends to ask the same practical question sooner or later: what exactly is a trustee legally required to do. The answer matters because trustees are personally...
Most employers do not wake up one day and decide they need pension trustee services. It usually happens gradually. A trustee meeting gets postponed twice. An audit query takes longer to answer than it should. A member asks a question about their contributions that...
