On Wednesday night I had a very interesting chat to a pensions lawyer over a few cocktails at the annual Allen & Overy press party.
I do not think it was the generously ginned-up drinks that made current pensions litigation trends appear interesting. In fact, the conversation quite sobered me up.
It appears a number of cases currently been fought in court stem back to decisions made 10 or 15 years ago.
The world of pensions felt very different then and what appeared to be ‘adequate’ pensions communications falls far short when looked at through 2013 legal eyes.
The warning for human resources people is this: when looking at your pensions (of whichever type) and default funds, project yourself forward 15 years and try to envisage the scenario then. Then apply this to your present day decisions.
This isn’t foolproof of course, but it can focus minds now to potentially prevent expensive litigation later.
Now, has someone got a time-travelling Tardis we can use to make this easier?
Debi O’Donovan
Editor
Employee Benefits
Twitter: @DebiODonovan
