Tom Barton Email & Phone Number

Tom is Head of the Leeds Pensions Practice for Pinsent Masons and leads the award-winning national DC practice which advises workplace pension providers, master trusts, multi-billion employer-run DC schemes, governance bodies, services providers and industry associations. The DC practice has over £300bn under advice. The practice is built on supporting clients with new pioneering services at every step of the DC journey from auto-enrolment, charges & governance, Freedom & Choice, Master Trust authorisation through to the pensions dashboard and beyond. Tom also leads the firm’s relationships with multi-billion employer-run DB schemes, NAMES schemes and DB consolidators.Tom manages relationships as a legal consultant proactively supporting client strategy and specialises in big ticket, big budget projects and annuity clients – whether that be change, transactional or regulatory (or sometimes a combination of all three).Recent experience includes:• Documenting updated rules, streamlined onboarding (participation, transfer and pre-funding) documentation and processes for multiple Master Trusts• Multiple Master Trust M&A and rescue projects – and authorisation / supervisory arrangements with • Governance Effectiveness projects for EBC-led Master Trusts• Transformation / legacy simplification projects (bulk policyholder change projects) for household name insurers and life offices• Overseeing the delivery of a huge project to address rules, benefits and governance in a multi-billion DB scheme, leading a team of 4 partners and 10 solicitors• Single Code (ESOG & ORA) projects for multi-billion employer-run DC and DB schemes• Advising pensions businesses / organisations on retirement proposition and DB consolidation proposition• Regulatory, tax and contractual disputes space involving leading EBCs, pension businesses and household name employers• Successfully resolving a dispute with the FCA and DWP for one pension provider, averting a £2bn sale of assets in fire-sale conditions• Advising Royal London in the landmark case of Royal London v Hughes, part of wider campaign against suspected pension scams• Advising pensions businesses and large DB and DC schemes with early staging deadlines on dashboard compliance from an FCA and TPR perspectiveTom also hosts and presents at various industry seminars and participates in leading industry associations.

Listed skills include Advice And Guidance, Annuities, Auto Enrolment, Benefit Adequacy, and 45 others.

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  Partner

  Pinsent Masons

  Jun 2006 - Present