Can trustees have an eye to the lifeboat?

In the Ilford case^[1], the court was asked to determine whether, as a matter of principle, trustees could have regard to the availability of compensation under the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) when making their decisions.

While there was much consideration as to whether the trustee was, in the first instance, able to give effect to a proposed buy-out strategy (given the rules of the particular scheme in question), Mr Justice Henderson went to on decide (as a secondary point, and in the clearest of terms) that whatever the outcome of that particular argument, the proposed action amounted in any event to a blatant attempt to undermine the PPF and was contrary to public policy.

Wragge & Co's pensions litigation experts provide further guidance following this decision.

[1] Independent Trustee Services Ltd v (1) Paul Hope (2) The Board of the Pension Protection Fund (3) The Pensions Regulator (4) Alan Slater ([2009] EWHC 2810 (Ch): 10 November 2009)