Re Brewster
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | Baroness Hale of Richmond,Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore,Lord Wilson,Lord Reed,Lord Dyson |
| Judgment Date | 08 February 2017 |
| Neutral Citation | [2017] UKSC 8 |
| Court | Supreme Court |
| Date | 08 February 2017 |
[2017] UKSC 8
SUPREME COURT
Before Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, Lord Wilson, Lord Reed and Lord Dyson
In re Brewster
The failure by a member of a local government pension scheme in Northern Ireland to nominate his partner for a surviving cohabitee's pension did not preclude her from receiving such a pension after his death when she otherwise satisfied the scheme's conditions. The Supreme Court so held in allowing the appeal of the claimant, Denise Brewster, against the order of the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland (Lord Justice Higgins and Lord Justice Coghlin; Lord Justice Girvan dissenting)([2013] NICA 54) which allowed an appeal by the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers' Superannuation Committee (the committee) and the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (the department) from the order of Mr Justice Treacy([2012] NIQB 85) granting the claimant judicial review of the committee's refusal to pay her a pension. Ms Helen Mountfield, QC, and Mr Chris Buttler (both of the English Bar) for the claimant; Mr Nicolas Hanna, QC, and Mr Donal Sayers (both of the Northern Ireland Bar) for the committee; Mr Tony McGleenan, QC, and Mr Donal Lunny (both of the Northern Ireland Bar) for the department.
Lord Kerr, with whom the other members of the court agreed, said that William Leonard McMullan, known as Lenny McMullan, and Denise Brewster had lived together for some ten years before December 2009.
On Christmas Eve that year they became engaged. Sadly, Lenny McMullan died two days later.
At the time of his death, Mr McMullan was employed by Translink, the company which provided Northern Ireland's public transport services. He had worked for that company for approximately 15 years.
Throughout that time Mr McMullan had been a member of and had paid into the Local Government Pension Scheme Northern Ireland. The committee was the statutory body responsible for administering the scheme, pursuant to the Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 (SI 2009 No 32). The department had made, and was responsible for, the 2009 Regulations.
The previous scheme had already provided for payment of a survivor's pension to a member's spouse or civil partner. On the coming into force of the 2009 Regulations a cohabiting surviving partner also became eligible for the first time but, in order to qualify, had to be nominated by the member.
Regulation 25(3) required the member and partner to sign a declaration that they were living together as if husband and wife or civil partners, and that the latter was financially dependent on, or financially interdependent with, the former.
Regulation 25(6) required that, on the death of a member, the surviving cohabitee should demonstrate that the conditions in regulation 25(3) had been existing at the date of the death for at least two years. There was no nomination requirement for spouses or civil partners.
The 2009 Regulations had been made so as to achieve parity with equivalent Regulations in England and Wales. The latter had since removed the nomination requirement but it remained in...
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