26 July 2010 – Supreme Court gives permission in Houldsworth v Bridge Trustees Ltd (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions intervening)

A panel of Supreme Court Justices (Lord Hope, Lord Collins and Lord Clarke) have granted permission to appeal in Houldsworth v Bridge Trustees Ltd. The case concerns the order in which the assets from an occupational pension scheme should be applied to its members on winding-up. At issue is whether certain benefits provided by the scheme are ‘money purchase benefits’ within the meaning of section 181 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions intervened in the appeal at the Court of Appeal stage.

Andrew Simmonds QC successfully appeared for the ‘deferred members’ of the scheme, whose entitlement to have their pension paid to them has not yet arisen, in the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal judgment can be found here.