Kirsty Bartlett Partner

Kirsty Bartlett has more than a decade of experience in pensions law. Her practice focuses on UK occupational pensions, working with trustees and sponsoring employers on matters ranging from significant projects such as mergers and benefit changes to the impact of new legislation, day-to-day compliance and member complaints.

She has a particular interest and specialism in schemes with a public sector element, whether due to the provision of broadly comparable benefits under Fair Deal or because the sponsoring employer is a public or quasi-public body. To this end, Kirsty has been part of the team providing support to the Confederation of British Industry’s pensions panel on public sector issues. Kirsty is also part of the group at Squire Sanders considering the longer-term future of occupational pension provision in light of recent trends towards the closure to accrual of defined benefit schemes.

Kirsty is a member of the Association of Pension Lawyers.

Representative Experience

• Advising the trustee of a FTSE 100 company’s pension plan on various matters including a significant merger, a partial cessation of accrual and issues relating to the provision of broadly comparable benefits to a number of public sector pension arrangements including negotiations with the Government Actuary's Department.
• Advising a NASDAQ-listed corporation on UK pension issues connected with a refinancing and eventual disposal through a Chapter 11 process. Subsequently, advising the UK management on a pensions benefit change process involving consultation with members of the pension plan and obtaining their individual consent to amend their employment contracts.
• Advising the trustee of an £8 billion pension fund on various issues including amendments to the governing documents, member complaints and governance and compliance matters.