The Court of Appeal has just handed down judgment in Manolete v White ([2024] EWCA Civ 1418), in which it held that occupational pensions are protected from injunctions requiring them to be drawn down so as to be available to creditors for enforcement purposes.

Manolete had obtained a judgment against Mr White which remained unpaid. He is the holder of occupational pension rights which are not yet in payment. Manolete sought an order whereby its solicitors would be authorised to exercise his pension rights, receive his pension, and pay it to Manolete in order to discharge the judgment debt.

S.91(2) of the Pensions Act 1995 prohibits the court from making an order “the effect of which would be that [a person] would be restrained from receiving” their occupational pension. The order originally sought by Manolete was clearly prohibited. In order to get around this, the court made an order requiring Mr White to exercise his rights to draw down his pension, to receive that pension into a bank account in his own name, and to keep Manolete informed of the process (including providing details of the receiving bank account). The intention was that Manolete would be able to enforce once the pension had been received. It argued that this meant that the statutory prohibition had not been breached, because Mr White would in fact receive his pension, even if he might have to pay it on immediately.

The Court of Appeal disagreed. Having reviewed the legislative history and the purpose behind the provision, it held that the injunction and notification provisions could not be looked at separately from the enforcement proceedings which they were intended to enable, and that taken together it could not be said as a matter of any reality that Mr White would receive his pension. It also held that even if the order had not been expressly prohibited by the statute, it could never be just and convenient for the court to craft an order for the purpose of evading a statutory prohibition, as was done here.

Reuben Comiskey represented Mr White pro bono, along with Brad Pomfret KC, instructed by Simeon Gilchrist and Nicole Davis of Edwin Coe LLP, also acting pro bono. Brad and Reuben were originally instructed by Advocate, the Bar pro bono charity.

Read the full judgment here.