Scheme Booklet: Pensions Ombudsman Enforces Promise

It has for many years been generally accepted that statements made in a scheme booklet do not, of themselves, give rise to enforceable rights. A series of court decisions, the most important being the Court of Appeal in Steria v Hutchinson, have confirmed this.

The Pensions Ombudsman (the Ombudsman), going against the established position, has recently found that a statement in the scheme booklet did amount to an "enforceable promise". He found, in the case of Muller, that a statement in the scheme booklet confirming that a pension was "payable for life" was an enforceable promise that the pension would be paid.

As with all Ombudsman decisions, this is binding only between the complainant and respondent. The law as set out in Steria still stands and generally statements made in scheme booklets will not give rise to directly enforceable rights. However, this decision may indicate that the new Ombudsman (in post since June 2015) is willing to push the...