Update: At a court hearing on 29 March 2022, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) offered no evidence against Julian Hanson, 57, Lea Road, Batley, who was also charged with fraud by abuse of position. The case against Mr Hanson, who pleaded not guilty on a previous occasion, is now concluded and a verdict of not guilty has been formally entered by the court. This update supersedes previous court appearances.
A defendant charged in connection with a multi-million-pound pension fraud investigation by The Pensions Regulator (TPR) today (Friday) changed his plea to guilty at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court.
TPR alleges that between 2012 and 2014, 245 savers were persuaded to transfer their pension savings – totalling £13.7 million – into 11 pension schemes under the control of three defendants – Alan Barratt, Julian Hanson and Susan Dalton.
Alan Barratt, 61 of Burnham Road, Althorne, Essex, pleaded not guilty to a charge of fraud by abuse of position at a previous hearing. Today, at Southwark Crown Court he changed his plea to guilty.
Susan Dalton, 65, Geneva Terrace, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, entered a guilty plea at a previous hearing.
Julian Hanson, 56, Lea Road, Batley, pleaded not guilty on a previous occasion.
The case was adjourned until 13 June, when Hanson will stand trial at Southwark Crown Court.
All defendants who have pleaded, or are found, guilty will be sentenced at the conclusion of that trial.
All the defendants have been released on conditional bail.
Notes for editors
- Media are reminded that criminal proceedings against Julian Hanson remain active and he has a right to a fair trial. There should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could prejudice those proceedings.
- The Pensions Regulator is the regulator of work-based pension schemes in the UK. Our statutory objectives are: to protect members’ benefits; to reduce the risk of calls on the Pension Protection Fund (PPF); to promote, and to improve understanding of, the good administration of work-based pension schemes; to maximise employer compliance with automatic enrolment duties; and to minimise any adverse impact on the sustainable growth of an employer (in relation to the exercise of the regulator’s functions under Part 3 of the Pensions Act 2004 only).
