State pensions are the largest item in the UK social security budget, costing GBP96.7 billion in 2017/18. In the same year, 45.6 million people were members of UK occupational pension schemes (out of a total population of 66.4 million) and the total amount saved into workplace schemes in 2018 was GBP90.4 billion. A consequence of the pensions sector's large size has been that pensions law and social security law have become increasingly specialised areas of practice. Yet despite their social and economic importance and the fascinating legal issues they generate, pensions have not been the subject of sustained academic attention. This book starts to fill this gap by initiating a dialogue between practitioners and scholars working on pensions law and policy, groups who have much to learn from one another.
