We provide specialist legal advice to employers participating in private sector pension schemes. Our clients rely on us to help them understand complex scheme rules, keep pace with regulation and make clear decisions about long term pension costs and liabilities.
We work with employers that operate or participate in a wide range of arrangements, across defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, group personal pensions and multi-employer schemes. Many of the decisions you take about these schemes affect cost, balance sheet risk, recruitment and retention. Our role is to give you precise, practical advice so you can assess your options and act with confidence.
We guide employers through contribution design, scheme changes, liability management and exit strategies. We help you understand the risks and hurdles associated with changing pension arrangements, identify appropriate mitigation and deliver those changes in a way that is legally robust and manageable for your workforce. Whether you are establishing a new scheme, closing an existing one, or addressing historic problems, you receive support that balances compliance, cost and long term sustainability.
Our Services
We provide a comprehensive range of services supporting employers across the private pensions landscape.
Establishing or joining a new scheme
We support employers who are setting up or joining private sector pension schemes, including:
- Advising on consultation and information duties when changing pension arrangements.
- Reviewing deeds of participation and provider terms for employers joining new defined contribution schemes.
- Supporting bulk transfers into new arrangements, including negotiations with trustees and providers.
- Coordinating advice with actuaries and consultants.
We help you understand the implications of each option and the steps required to implement decisions safely.
Automatic enrolment compliance
We advise employers on their duties under the Pensions Act 2008 and related regulations. Our work includes:
- Reviewing enrolment processes and staff communications.
- Advising on the correct categorisation of workers and enrolment triggers.
- Identifying and addressing historic compliance breaches.
- Advising on reporting obligations to The Pensions Regulator and appropriate remedial action.
Where issues are identified, we work with you to resolve the issue in a way that minimise regulatory and reputational risk.
Pension consultation and change projects
Many changes to private sector pension schemes require formal consultation with affected employees. We:
- Advise on when the Pensions Consultation Regulations are triggered.
- Design compliant consultation processes and timelines.
- Prepare clear consultation materials and responses to frequently asked questions.
- Support employers where consultation interacts with wider engagement programmes, trade union relationships or employment law duties.
Our advice focuses on helping you deliver change that is both legally secure and understood by your workforce.
Salary Sacrifice for Pension Schemes
- Advising on legally compliant salary sacrifice arrangements (opt‑in and opt‑out methods)
- Drafting salary sacrifice documentation and employee communications
- Advising on the impact of salary sacrifice during periods of absence
Pensions Governance
- Reviewing amendments to Trust Deeds, Rules and scheme documents
- Advising on trustee appointment and removal
- Reviewing Pensions Committee Terms of Reference
TUPE Pensions Obligations
- Explaining pension implications of TUPE transfers for outgoing and incoming employers
- Ensuring protection of employee pension rights during business transfers, including reviewing and negotiating legal agreement to enable employees to maintain their benefits.
- Reviewing and negotiating pension provisions in service contracts
Pensions on Mergers
- Conducting legal due diligence on scheme participations
- Advising on how to merge without triggering Section 75 debts
- Negotiating apportionment deeds and deeds to replace a principal employer
- Advising on notification obligations to The Pensions Regulator
Managing Pension Liabilities & Ongoing Costs
We help employers manage the ongoing cost and risk of their pension arrangements. This includes:
- Considering closure to future accrual, benefit redesign and risk transfer options.
- Advising on the treatment of surpluses, including when and how they may be applied or refunded.
- Reviewing contribution structures, including salary sacrifice and matching arrangements.
We present the legal and practical implications of each route so that boards and senior leaders can make informed decisions.
Pension Scheme Bulk Transfers
Where employers are restructuring their schemes or their corporate groups, we:
- Advise on bulk transfers between schemes.
- Support transfers out of multi-employer arrangements into standalone schemes.
- Coordinate the pension aspects of mergers, acquisitions and group reorganisations.
- Liaise with trustees, providers and advisers to align legal documents and communications.
Our work aims to minimise unexpected liabilities and ensure that pension outcomes remain consistent with your wider transaction objectives.
Pension Scheme Closures
- Advising on consultation obligations and drafting compliant employee communications
- Advising on employment law implications of scheme closure
- Advising on defined benefit liabilities, exit risks and the treatment of scheme surpluses
Pensions Litigation
We advise employers involved in pensions disputes and regulatory processes. Our work includes:
- Providing updates on case law developments and their impact on scheme governance and employer decisions.
- Advising on TPT Benefit Review related litigation and similar scheme-wide issues.
- Supporting employers in challenging trustee decisions, including advising where The Pensions Ombudsman is an option.
- Advising on engagement with The Pensions Regulator where scheme actions or decisions may demonstrate a potential breach of duty.
- Throughout, we focus on early identification of risk, proportionate responses and solutions that protect both the organisation and its workforce.
Meet the Team
Our private sector pensions work is led by Kirsty Thompson and Katie Maguire, supported by a specialist team of pensions and employment lawyers. Together, they advise employers on scheme design, funding, governance and change projects across a wide range of private sector arrangements.
Kirsty has extensive experience advising employers on closing defined benefit schemes and joining defined contribution schemes, bulk transfers and major change programmes. Katie brings strong employment and employee relations expertise, ensuring that pensions projects are aligned with consultation duties and wider HR strategy. They are supported by lawyers with experience in automatic enrolment, workforce consultation and undertaking due diligence on hurdles to closing a scheme.
We work closely with actuaries and consultants to give employers a joined up view of the legal, financial and workforce implications of their pensions decisions. Our advice is practical, commercially aware and attuned to the long term management of pension liabilities, so you can make clear, informed choices about your schemes and your people.
How We Work
We take time to understand each client’s objectives, operating environment and risk profile. We assess whether proposed strategies are legally achievable, explain the options available and outline the steps needed to deliver them. Our support covers planning, consultation, documentation and implementation.
We work closely with actuaries, benefits consultants, HR and finance teams so that everyone involved understands the legal framework, the commercial drivers and the practical implications. Our advice is grounded in clarity, commercial understanding and precise guidance, so decision makers can move forward with confidence.
Case Examples
- Advising a client that had deducted pension contributions but not paid them to the scheme, including in relation to disclosures to trustees, employees and regulator.
- Acting for a national employer ceasing accrual in two defined benefit schemes, advising on amendments to scheme rules and scheme documents, contractual rights, consultation obligations and employee engagement; achieving full employee agreement to the changes.
- Acting for a northern housing association on a bulk transfer out of SHPS into a newly established defined benefit scheme, including reviewing trustee company documentation, advising on conflicts of interest, preparing consultation materials and negotiating the transfer agreement.
- Bringing together employers affected by the TPT Benefit Review to provide advice on the likely outcome, and options for employer challenge at a shared cost.
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