It was inevitable that at some point the Pension Protection Fund standard guarantee would be put to the test in the courts. That's exactly what happened when a guarantee in favour of the Caribonum Pension Scheme was triggered by sponsor insolvency. Although not a surprising outcome, trustees of pension schemes which have Type A PPF guarantees in place can now sleep easier in the light of the court's ruling granting summary judgment to the Scheme, notwithstanding the construction and abuse of process arguments put forward by the guarantor. The latest edition of the "Purple Book" says that 452 schemes currently certify Type A guarantees for PPF levy reduction purposes; but there will be many other schemes where such a guarantee is in place but is no longer certified. For further discussion and analysis of the case please see Pensions Disputes partner Garon Anthony's blog on the case.
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