CH-2024-000162 - [2025] EWHC 2237 (Ch)

Mrs Alexis was not represented at the appeal hearing and she did not seek to address me on the detailed legal issues. However, she made known her position articulately and courteously. I am grateful for her representations which I have fully taken into account.

Mrs Alexis explained that she had been employed by Scottish & Newcastle for 35 years or so. This was then sold and she was made her redundant after around five years of working for her new employer. When she applied for her pension, she was told that the supplement stopped at 65. She disagreed with this and rejected the £1,000 compensation offered by the Trustee for its related errors. She then went to the Ombudsman, won her case and received her pension, including the supplement.

Mrs Alexis’ essential position is that the Trustee should have changed its paperwork when the Government guidelines for the payment of state pension changed. More recently, Mrs Alexis had received e-mails from the Trustee with a view to deducting £220 per month from her pension for a period of one year if the appeal were to succeed. However, having made multiple errors, and her complaint having been upheld, she feels that the Trustee should be held accountable.

Finally, I am also grateful to the Trustee’s counsel for what I consider to be his fair presentation of matters on the appeal, including those arguments which potentially undermined his client’s interpretation of the 2001 Rules.