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Pension Loss Forensic Accountant

Pensions are one of the most important assets you can have. They provide financial security in retirement and help you maintain your quality of life. When an individual sustains a personal injury and cannot work, their pension can suffer because they are unable to make payments towards it. Pension losses are an essential element of many personal injury damages calculations, and a pension loss forensic accountant plays a key role in calculating the amount due to the Claimant.

At Frenkels Forensics Chartered Accountants, we have decades of experience in forensic accounting assessing pension losses. We are the go-to firm for Claimant and Defendant personal injury legal practitioners, solicitors and barristers throughout the UK, and have assisted countless legal professionals to assess the Claimants’ losses arising from clinical negligence and personal injury claims.

What are Pension Losses?

Personal injury law states that anyone injured in an accident or impacted by a clinical negligence that wasn’t their fault is entitled to be compensated for their injuries. The fundamental purpose of personal injury law is to put the victim back into the position they would have been in had the accident not occurred. Whilst it is clearly near impossible to compensate a victim for their suffering in financial terms, the law hopes that the damages awarded will go some way towards helping a victim cope with the effects of their accident and its impact on their lives.

When calculating the amount due to a Claimant, damages are split into two types: general and special. General damages relate to the pain, suffering and loss of amenity the Claimant has suffered as a result of their accident. Special damages are intended to make good any financial losses.

Special damages are presented in the form of a ‘Schedule of Loss’, which is provided to the Defendant or their insurer together with supporting evidence. Special damages usually include claims for loss of earnings, the cost of medical care and, increasingly, pension losses.

Pension losses are the amount of money you would have received from your pension had you not suffered the personal injury which prevented you from working and making the requisite payments. Following the introduction of the Workplace Pension Scheme, employers are obliged to enrol anyone over the age of 22 and earning at least £10,000 in a pension scheme. As a result, pension losses have become a vital feature in the Schedules of Loss prepared on behalf of Claimants. A pension loss forensic accountant should always consider pension losses when calculating the compensation amount as they can have a significant impact on a Claimant’s financial stability in the long run, and significantly increase the damages due.

Forensic Accounting For Pension Loss

Pension loss calculations are notoriously complex, requiring a thorough understanding of the legal landscape and familiarity with a vast spectrum of pension schemes. Accordingly, the input of a pension loss forensic accountant is invariably required to accurately prepare the calculations.

We use cutting-edge forensic accountancy techniques and advanced technology to work out a Claimant’s pension losses, having regard to issues such as the Claimant’s age, life expectancy and expected rate of return of their pension. Our pension loss forensic accountants have experience working with all types of pension schemes, including defined benefit schemes and defined contribution schemes.

We can present our findings in a variety of formats, depending on your requirements. The types of formats most regularly requested by our clients include the following:

• CPR Reports

Where the circumstances of a case warrant a full CPR-compliant report, we will prepare a comprehensive, easily digestible report in line with all legal and procedural requirements. Our reports are known to be particularly user-friendly, enabling all parties and the Judge to understand the various heads of loss sought by the Claimant, including pension losses.

• White Label Schedules

White label schedules allow our clients to benefit from our forensic accountancy expertise in a cost-effective way. We will prepare the Schedule of Loss on a white label basis and you need simply insert your figures as required.

• Desktop Reports

Desktop reports are less detailed than CPR Reports and give a straightforward summary of the losses sustained by the Claimant. They enable a legal team to gain an appreciation of the value of their client’s case and are a useful tool in settlement discussions.

Pension Loss Forensic Accountant As Expert Witness

We have extensive experience acting as expert witnesses in personal injury claims, and we have attended Court to give evidence under cross examination.

Our expertise in the field sees us regularly instructed to act as a single joint expert to prepare a report for the Court detailing the Claimant’s losses and attending the trial to explain our findings. We pride ourselves on producing robust, impartial reports that fairly reflect the reality of a case, and our work often has a decisive impact on the outcome of the proceedings.

To discover more, please call us on 0330 118 8200 or Make An Online Enquiry.

“Your report was a herculean task and put us in an incredibly strong position. Thank you ever so much for the work and advice you have provided . The report was clear and accessible and will not hesitate to recommend you all.”

Solicitor

“I am indebted to you for your contribution, and for explaining things in plain English such that even lawyers can understand the issues”

Solicitor

“It was a pleasure working with you on what was a rather difficult case”

Solicitor