Best news story of the week has to be Mohammed Fayed’s rant at the Harrods Pension Scheme Trustees for not allowing him to ‘raid’ the scheme of his company dividend before paying up for the deficit as the law requires. The full report in the Evening Standard is simply hilarious. I was convinced at first that it had been written by Ian Hislop. The shareholdings in Harrods are opaque in the extreme as any reader of Private Eye will know, with various offshore ‘Fayed Family Trusts’ hiding most of the true picture.
So it was brave and absolutely correct for the trustees to spoil this man’s party by putting their members first. Well done.
Next, the Coalition Government has announced the end of compulsory retirement at age 65 and instead, retirement will be linked with life expectancy. Those of my devoted Twitter followers will know that I have already commented with some concern on this. I just don’t at the moment understand how this is going to work. It is a fact of life that a 65 year old will generally have a lower life expectancy than someone aged 30. Just who is going to decide what the appropriate life expectancy for a pension is going to be? Will it be some jobsworth in a dark room? Will those actuarial mortality tables suddenly get a whole new meaning?? Will we all be biochipped at birth and when it starts to flash red we report to Carousel? (you will have to watch Logans Run to get that allusion folks!!)
And what of the sick – what diseases will ‘qualify’ for reduced life expectancy assessment. I have diabetes – can I put in for my pension now please?
Obviously I am being a bit flippant here but it is an example of just how easy it is to make a great announcement. It will be far harder to translate that into a system that actually works. Mind you, we haven’t had a working adequate pension system for several years now, why should I expect anything to change?
Jennie advises large multi-employer schemes as well as smaller single employer arrangements and has wide experience of both Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit schemes. Jennie qualified in 1986 originally as a criminal prosecutor. She sits as a Magistrate in her local justice area and is an Approved Chairman and Deputy Chair of the Bench Training and Development Committee. Jennie was formerly Legal Director of the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority. When her busy practice allows, Jennie likes to indulge her passion for travelling. To consult Jennie on any corporate Pensions matter, please call her on +44 (0)20 7749 2700 or send her an email by clicking below:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Silverman Sherliker, GabrielleLainePeters, Lurve Wonderland, Andrew Neligan, Tom McPhail and others. Tom McPhail said: @PensionsDan @pensionlawyeruk http://bit.ly/bvbiph good blog. Life expectancy related SPA might be 'clever' but it won't work. [...]