Burges Salmon joins Pension Protection Fund legal panel

Independent UK law firm Burges Salmon LLP has secured a position on the Pension Protection Fund’s (PPF) newly formed legal panel structure. The PPF, created in 2005 under the Pensions Act 2004, serves to protect individuals who are members of defined benefit pension schemes, offering crucial support when their employers face insolvency. This latest appointment is reflective of Burges Salmon's extensive expertise in various sectors, including Financial Services, Built Environment, and Public sectors.

Burges Salmon will offer legal services across four designated lots, specifically assigned to Lot 1 and Lot 3. In Lot 1, the firm will provide legal advisory services that cover governance, compliance, human resources, commercial contracts, pensions, and risk management matters. Under Lot 3, Burges Salmon will offer specialised legal advice regarding real estate matters such as property acquisitions, disposals, lettings, and estate management.

This milestone underscores Burges Salmon's commitment to delivering comprehensive services to the PPF. With over 30 years of experience through its Pensions and Lifetime Savings team, the firm has established a market-leading practice advising on occupational, commercial, and public sector defined benefit schemes. Furthermore, their nationally recognised Real Estate practice offers strategic and commercially focused advice across transactional, advisory, and dispute resolution realms. The firm services a diverse array of clients, including prominent public bodies, providing insights throughout the full real estate lifecycle, from strategic land to investment and asset management.

Alice Honeywill, a pensions partner at Burges Salmon, expresses excitement about the appointment, stating "We are delighted to have been appointed to the PPF’s legal panel structure. This reflects not only the strength of our pensions expertise and long track record advising on complex DB schemes, but also the breadth of our wider financial services, regulatory, commercial and real estate capabilities. We look forward to working closely with the PPF to support its strategic objectives and deliver high quality, practical advice across both Lots 1 and 3.”

Richard Clark, a real estate partner at the firm, adds that “Our appointment to the PPF’s real estate panel underlines the depth of our built environment expertise and our experience advising major public sector organisations on the full spectrum of property matters. We are excited to support the PPF with commercially grounded advice that helps drive value and ensures robust management of its property portfolio.”

The PPF has commented on the significance of their legal panel appointments, stating “Working closely with our panels and creating long term strategic relationships is crucial to how we work. We're delighted to have retained existing relationships as well as opening the door to several new ones. This provides our panel with a greater depth of legal experience in specialist areas to meet our requirements. We look forward to working with our panel firms to deliver exceptional outcomes for us and our stakeholders.”