UK – The High Court in London is expected to issue a ruling tomorrow on the Taber test case to determine if Taber, a pensions policyholder of the Norwich Union, should pay back the value of his NU windfall shares if he opts to take full compensation for the personal pension plan that was mis-sold to him by Needler Financial Services (NFS) in 1990.

NFS argues that the victims of pensions mis-selling should have to give up the benefits they received on the demutualisation of their pension provider in the form of shares allocated, as these benefits should be used as an offset against the compensation due from their pensions advisers for the being mis-sold a personal pension.

The Pensions Mis-selling Review, which was set up in 1994 to review cases of investors who had been advised to provide their pensions through a personal plan rather than continue with their occupational pension scheme, has a rule that provides the shares given on demutualisation of the insurer should not be considered when calculating the compensation package.

London based law firm Norton Rose will represent Taber in resisting the challenge mounted by NFS in only the second test case to go to the High Court, under the procedures provided by the Personal Investment Authority’s ombudsman rules. Over one million have been compensated for pensions mis-selling, under the current rules.