The Pensions Regulator (TPR) is to prosecute Samuel Smith Old Brewery and its chairman for failing to provide financial information pertinent to an ongoing pensions investigation.
TPR issued a notice on 12 January 2018 to the North Yorkshire brewery and its chairman, Humphrey Smith, to request financial information and relevant documents. This was to help TPR understand the funding position of some of the organisation’s pension schemes. The notice, issued under section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004, required the details to be provided by 26 January 2018.
Samuel Smith Old Brewery and Smith will each face a charge of neglecting or refusing to provide information and documents, without a reasonable excuse, when required to do so under section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004, contrary to section 77(1). Smith is charged on the basis that the offence was committed with his consent or connivance, or by his neglect.
Samuel Smith Old Brewery and Smith have been summoned to appear at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 15 May 2018.
Under section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004, TPR has the power to require pension schemes, employers and third parties to provide information and documents relevant to TPR’s functions. Failing to provide this information without reasonable excuse is a criminal offence. It can result in an unlimited fine, as well as potential action from associated professional bodies.
Samuel Smith Old Brewery was unavailable for comment at time of publication.