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Matthew Swynnerton

Partner
About

Matthew is a partner at global law firm DLA Piper where he heads the London Employment and Pensions team. He advises on all aspects of pensions law, including the pensions aspects of corporate transactions, Pensions Regulator risk issues and moral hazard powers, reorganisations and restructuring, bulk annuity transactions, benefit redesign and liability management projects, reviewing and updating scheme documentation and advising trustees and employers on their legislative and trust law duties.

Matthew was elected as a member of Association of Pension Lawyers’ Main Committee in 2022, and is speaking at its Annual Conference in 2023. Matthew is also a legal adviser to the Pension Scams Industry Group (PSIG), the voluntary body set up to combat pension scams, help protect members and assist trustees and administrators in this complex and high-profile area.

Matthew has been described by a leading pensions QC as having "an extensive knowledge of pensions law and practice, very sound legal judgement and good commercial sense.” Matthew is a ranked individual in the current Chambers guide and is ranked as a Leading Individual in the current Legal 500, which has stated that he is "praised by clients as 'highly responsible and approachable' and 'able to demonstrate a deep knowledge of pensions law which he deploys with great pragmatism'". Clients have said: “his knowledge of pensions law is outstanding and his understanding of the implications of existing, new or upcoming pensions regulation on the wider industry is exceptional.”

Areas of FocusEmployment
Professional QualificationsSolicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales

EXPERIENCE

  • Advising the trustees of RSA's pension scheme on its 2023 buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation plc, the largest ever bulk annuity transaction from pension schemes to insurer, covering 40,000 members and c.£6.5 billion of liabilities (and previously on its pioneering GBP1.9 billion longevity risk swap arrangement with Goldman Sachs and Rothesay Life, at the time the largest ever deal of its kind in the UK);
  • Advising a ridesharing company on its automatic enrolment duties following the recent Supreme Court judgement on worker status;
  • As a member of the Pension Scams Industry Group’s technical committee, drafting key legal sections of the Combatting Pension Scams Code of Practice, which received widespread praise from the Pensions Regulator, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pensions Minister, and working with the DWP in relation to the Transfer Conditions Regulations;
  • Advising YouGov plc, the international market research and data analytics group, on the pension aspects of its €315m acquisition of the Consumer Panel Business of GfK SE;
  • Advising Hitachi Rail Europe on the pensions aspects of a transfer of 526 heavily-unionised employees from LNER as part of the £5.7 billion Government-led Intercity Express Programme (IEP);
  • Advising CKI on the highly-complex pensions aspects of its GBP5.8 billion acquisition of UK Power Networks from EDF, including regulatory issues, multiple bulk transfers, sectionalisations, clearance and complex mitigation agreements with two sets of trustees;
  • Advising the Alternative Hotels Group on the pension aspects of its GBP650 million debt for equity swap with Bank of Scotland in respect of De Vere Hotels, at the time the largest ever debt for equity swap in UK corporate history.
Education
  • Birmingham University, Law LLB Hons

Publications

Matthew regularly contributes articles to the trade press, including Engaged Investor, Professional Pensions, the Financial Times and Pensions Age. Matthew is a member of the Pension Liberation Industry Group’s Technical Committee, working alongside key industry figures as legal adviser in creating and drafting key sections of a Code of Practice (which received widespread praise from the Pensions Regulator, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pensions Minister) and a Practitioners Guide (published in 2023) for trustees and administrators in this complex area.

Seminars

Matthew is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences, including the Association of Pension Lawyers Annual Conference in November 2023 and the Pensions Age Conference 2023, and is regularly invited to join judging panels for industry awards (he has been a judge of the Pensions Age Awards for many years, and will do this again in 2024).

Memberships And Affiliations

  • Association of Pension Lawyers Main Committee - Secretary
  • Association of Pension Lawyers - full member

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