Pensions, Disputes & Investigations

Our market-leading contentious pensions practice is made up of a core group of experienced lawyers from our pensions, disputes, and regulatory investigations practices.

Pensions disputes

We have extensive experience acting for trustees, employers, life offices and other stakeholders on the whole range of pensions disputes, from high value High Court cases to complaints to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman and complaints under schemes’ internal dispute procedures. We also advise on seeking directions from the High Court and on mediation.

Pensions disputes are often technical and complex and are increasingly more common. To manage disputes most effectively a litigation mind-set needs to be adopted from the outset, often before a matter has become a formal complaint or claim. Our team combines excellent technical pensions and dispute resolution expertise with practical strategic advice to provide the very best outcomes for our clients.

Pensions Authority investigations

Since changes were made to the Pensions Act in April 2021, the Pensions Authority’s supervisory role and range of investigatory powers in relation to pension schemes is broader than ever. While the Pensions Authority has always had investigatory powers, most schemes can now expect a formal supervisory review of their affairs under section 26J of the Pensions Act. More information can be found here.

We advise trustees, employers, key function holders and scheme administrators on how best to prepare for and participate in a supervisory review or other formal or informal investigative process. We bring our expertise and experience from dealing with other regulators to ensure our clients best protect themselves and scheme members, scheme reputation, and maintain a positive working relationship with the Authority.

Other dispute and regulatory investigations

Our contentious pensions specialists work seamlessly with other teams within ALG to handle broader disputes and regulatory matters in the most expert way. We advise on pensions-related disputes involving discrimination and industrial relations matters which go before the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. We also advise on regulatory investigations affecting schemes in areas such as data protection matters and sanctions law.

The range of our offering

We provide market-leading advice and direction to all pension scheme stakeholders on:

• Circuit Court, High Court, Court of Appeal cases
• Applications to Court for directions
• Pensions Authority engagement and investigations
• Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman complaints
• Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) procedures
• Handling informal member complaints
• Industrial relations disputes and negotiations
• Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court pension-related discrimination and other disputes
• Insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings, including foreign insolvency proceedings such as Chapter 11 restructurings and UK administrations
• Sanctions advice and engagement with sanctions regulators