Slaughter and May has been appointed to advise the Government in its ongoing attempts to reduce former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive Fred Goodwin’s controversial pension payout.

The magic circle firm is advising UK Financial Investments (UKFI) – the Government-owned company set up last year to manage its shareholdings in banks – as it bids to reduce the £650,000 a year payout agreed before Goodwin’s early retirement in October last year.