Nest · CAS-114173-H2B7

CAS-114173-H2B7

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mrs S

Scheme NEST (the Scheme)

Respondent Children of Towan (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties The sequence of events is not in dispute, so I have only set out the salient points.

On 16 January 2020, Mrs S began her employment with the Employer.

Between January 2022 and November 2022, the Employer failed to pay pension contributions in full into the Scheme.

Following the complaint being referred to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO), Mrs S provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from January 2022 to November 2022, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay. These deductions amounted to £534.10. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix. The payslips did not show the employer contributions which have also not been paid into the Scheme.

1 CAS-114173-H2B7 Mrs S also provided screenshots from her Scheme account which showed that pension contributions had been remitted to the Scheme from January 2022 to March 2022. The employee contributions that were remitted to the Scheme from January 2022 to March 2022 totalled £125.24, and they did not match the contributions that had been deducted from the payslips for those months. The employee contributions deducted from the payslips from January 2022 to March 2022 amounted to £152.61.

On 29 April 2024, TPO wrote to the Employer to ask for more information in response to Mrs S’ complaint.

Adjudicator’s Opinion

• The Adjudicator stated that TPO’s normal approach, in cases such as these, was to seek agreement from all parties on the facts of the complaint, including the dates and amounts of contributions involved. She said that, as the Employer had not responded to any of TPO’s communications, she had to base her Opinion solely on the information provided by Mrs S.

• Based on the information provided by Mrs S and the Scheme administrator, £408.86 in employee contributions had not been remitted to the Scheme. The Employer had partially paid employee contributions between January 2022 and March 2022, and paid no employee contributions from April 2022 to October 2022. Mrs S did not meet the earnings threshold for the November 2022 pay period, and so pension deductions were not made from her pay that month.

• Mrs S’ payslips did not show the employer pension contributions in respect of Mrs S pay for January 2022 to October 2022, even though she was still enrolled in the 2 CAS-114173-H2B7 Scheme and her pay met the pension qualifying earnings threshold. Information provided by the Scheme administrator confirmed that £93.93 in employer contributions was paid between January 2022 and March 2022, and that the last pension contribution was received by the Scheme on 10 March 2022.

• Contributions should have been paid into the Scheme, as calculated in accordance with the statutory minimum automatic enrolment contribution rate of 3% and 5% for employer and employee contributions. It was the Adjudicator’s view, on the balance of probabilities that £233.39 in employer contributions had not been remitted into the Scheme for these months.

• The Adjudicator said that she had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mrs S. So, in the Adjudicator’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Mrs S’ pay but had not been paid into the Scheme. In addition, the Employer had not paid any of the employer contributions that were due over the same period. As a result of its maladministration, Mrs S was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

• In the Adjudicator’s view, Mrs S had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Adjudicator was of the opinion that an award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

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Directions

(i) pay Mrs S £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience she has experienced;

(ii) 642.25 Mrs S’ Mrs S

;

(iii) establish with the Scheme whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Mrs S’ Scheme account than she would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and

(iv) pay any reasonable administration fee should the Scheme administrator charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman

2 October 2024

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Appendix Payslip Gross Employee Employer Employee Employer period Salary contributio contributions contributions contributions (£) ns (£) (£) paid (£) paid (£)

January 1057.33 50.87 * 40.68 30.51 2022

February 1057.33 50.87 * 42.28 31.71 2022

March 2022 1017.33 50.87 * 42.28 31.71

April 2022 1268.63 55.95 *

May 2022 1119.00 55.95 *

June 2022 1017.33 50.87 *

July 2022 1017.33 50.87 *

August 1119.07 55.95 * 2022

September 1119.07 55.95 * 2022

October 1119.07 55.95 * 2022

November 308.00 No - 2022 deductions made

* Employer contributions are not shown on the payslips.

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