4 March 2010 – Court of Appeal gives judgment in Houldsworth v Bridge Trustees Ltd (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions intervening)

The Court of Appeal has held that pension scheme benefits are ‘money purchase benefits’ for the purposes of section 181 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 where, having regard to the combination of all the features of the scheme, the rate or amount of the benefits in question could sensibly and reasonably be said to be calculated by reference to payments by or in respect of the members receiving them. Andrew Simmonds QC, appearing on behalf of the deferred members of the scheme, successfully argued that two of the benefits provided under the scheme in question were money purchase benefits.

The case is an important one as it concerns the order in which the assets from an occupational pension scheme should be applied to its members on winding-up. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions intervened in the Court of Appeal.