Daniel Gerring

Daniel Gerring

Head of Pensions

Daniel is Head of Pensions at Travers Smith. He also sits on the firm's Diversity & Inclusion Board and was our first CSR Partner.

Daniel has a broad pensions practice, acting principally for trustees, employers and parties to corporate and restructuring activity.

His practice covers all aspects of pensions law. This includes strategic advice to trustees, employers and parties to corporate activity about pension funds, employer covenant and security for occupational schemes, pensions aspects of corporate transactions and reorganisations - including distress and restructuring situations, changes to benefit structures, risk management - including buy-ins and longevity insurance - and mergers, as well as questions about member benefits and handling all types of pensions-related claims and disputes. He is currently engaged in negotiating a number of revised funding/deferral packages, in response to Covid 19 challenges to sponsors.  He is also an expert on corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and diversity and inclusion – within the corporate environment and beyond – and is a trustee/non-executive director of a number of charities.

Daniel’s clients include the trustees or sponsoring employers of many of the UK's largest pension funds, including those associated with Akzo Nobel, the Association of British Insurers (ABI), AXA, BAE Systems, the Bank of England, Clarks Shoes, Gatwick Airport, ITN, Reach plc (formerly Trinity Mirror), Unilever and Willis Towers Watson.

Industry recognition

Daniel is in the Legal 500's Hall of Fame and ranks highly in Chambers and Partners. He has been named by Who's Who Legal as a 'Global Elite Thought Leader' in the Pensions category.

Daniel speaks regularly at major pensions industry conferences for trustees, employers, lawyers and other pension professionals (including the PLSA's Annual and Investment Conferences) and appears regularly in the press. He participates in a number of other industry groups, including the governing Council and Covenant Committee of the Society of Pension Professionals as well as serving as a committee member of the GMP Equalisation Industry Group (set up by Government and the Pensions Regulator and chaired by PASA) and chairing its tax sub-committee. He is a member of the Network Group for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT+ Rights and a Leadership Fellow of St George's House, Windsor Castle – a group limited to 250 senior leaders from across a wide variety of industries and sectors, from the UK and further afield.

Daniel was ranked in OUTstanding's worldwide 100 LGBT+ Executives List, published by the Financial Times, ranking 14th on this prestigious list and the highest ranked private practice lawyer. Daniel was also named 'Mentor of the Year' at the 2021 British Legal Awards and 'Mentor of the Year' at the Professional Pensions Rising Star Awards 2021 and more recently, named 'Leader of the Year' at the inaugural PMI Pinnacle Awards 2022.

Diversity & Inclusion

Daniel sits on our firm's Diversity and Inclusion Board and chairs our LGBT+ Group. He is a member of the PLSA's Diversity External Advisory Board as well as the Pensions Regulator's Diversity & Inclusion Working Group. He is also a founding member of The Alliance, a network of senior LGBTQ leaders from around the world, convened by McKinsey. He is recognised as a leader in the D&I field.

Daniel led the establishment of our Corporate Social Responsibility programme and served as the firm's first CSR partner, leading on the firm's charitable, community engagement, and legal pro bono initiatives until 2017.

He is a trustee/non-executive director of several charities and is involved with a number of development projects in his local community. He has a particular interest in education and youth work, having served as a school governor for over 10 years, and actively supports a number of related projects, including sitting on the board of young person's homelessness charity City YMCA London and North, acting as a volunteer consultant to Brighter Futures Zambia, an education and social development project for children affected by AIDS/HIV in Southern Africa, as well as being a trustee of Just Like Us (an LGBT+ charity for young people) and, more recently, being appointed to LGBTQI charity GiveOut's Board of Trustees. He also helped found Refugees at Home – a national charity providing free accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers - and sits on its board.

Daniel was a founding member of the National LGBT Solicitors Committee at The Law Society of England and Wales and launched a mentoring programme for LGBT+ university students from across the country in partnership with Just Like Us.

Selected deals

  • The MGN Pension Scheme in connection with the implications for the Scheme of the acquisition by Reach plc, of the publishing assets of Northern & Shell.
  • The C&J Clark Pension Fund on the fund’s closure to future accrual, a £5 billion multi-section pension scheme on closure to future accrual of defined benefits and the transition of all active members to a DC section within the scheme, together with many other trustees and employers on (often complex) scheme closures.
  • The Mirror Group Pension Scheme on a complex buy-in and buyout of certain of its pensioner obligations, and several other trustees, including the Trustee of the Institute & Faculty of Actuaries Staff Pension Scheme, on buy-ins and buyouts.
  • The Akzo Nobel (CPS) Pension Scheme on its valuation in the context of the £8 billion sale of Akzo Nobel's Specialty Chemicals division and a range of other trustees, employers and other stakeholders on scheme funding and employer covenant issues including in relation to corporate activity, returns of capital and other changes to the sponsor group, together with a variety of associated covenant enhancement arrangements including guarantees and security structures.
  • The AXA UK Group Pension Scheme, as conflict counsel in relation to its £2.8 billion insurance-wrapped longevity hedging transaction and a number of other trustees and employers on a range of other liability and risk limitation exercises, including longevity insurance contracts, longevity adjustment factors, pension increase exchanges and transfer exercises.
  • The Gatwick Airport Pension Plan on revisions to introduce a variable accrual rate for future service and a very large and high profile employer in relation to the creation of an innovative new CARE pension arrangement with significant member and employer flexibilities and on its roll-out to several thousand staff over an 18 month period.

WHAT OTHERS SAY

Daniel Gerring is very simply the best pension lawyer I have ever come across – he is incredibly bright, yet plain speaking, accessible, fair, pragmatic and effective. He provided first class strategic and commercial support.
The Legal 500, 2023
Daniel is an excellent senior lawyer. He is one of the best in the business and has extensive knowledge of pensions law.
Chambers and Partners, 2023
I am consistently impressed by Daniel Gerring: he is a first class lawyer and an acknowledged expert in his field. He is also a supremely commercial, pragmatic and strategic adviser and definitely the person you want at your side in negotiations. I can’t rate him highly enough. He is also a great supporter and developer of people and is unstuffy and personable. His team are also quality lawyers and are going from strength to strength.
The Legal 500, 2022
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