Barnardo’s v Buckinghamshire “Hot Topic” Seminar

On 7th November, the Supreme Court published its judgment, in which it dismissed the employer’s appeal in the matter of Barnardo’s v Buckinghamshire and others. The case concerned a question of construction of the applicable rules of the Barnardo pension scheme, namely whether the trustees currently have power to substitute CPI for RPI for the purposes of pensions increases and revaluation. The Supreme Court agreed with Warren J and the majority of the Court of Appeal that they did not.

Thomas Seymour and Emily Campbell will summarise the facts and reasoning in the case, and will consider a number of current themes, including:-

(1) What does the case have to say about the principles of interpretation? What is the role of extrinsic material such as IR12 and historic scheme documents? Is the purpose of interpretation to ascertain the intention of the parties, or is it to serve the convenience of the reader?

(2) Where does the case leave section 67 of the Pensions Act 1995 in relation to RPI/CPI switches?

(3) Why do so few pensions cases reach the Supreme Court?

To RSVP or if you have any questions, please email seminars@wilberforce.co.uk