Aviva Master Trust · CAS-49299-H9T3

CAS-49299-H9T3

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Miss R

Scheme Aviva Master Trust (the Scheme)

Respondent Right Choice Housing Association Community Interest Company (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In July 2018, Miss R began her employment with the Employer. Despite contributions being deducted from her pay none of these were paid into Miss R’s Scheme account.

Miss R raised the issue regarding her unpaid contributions with the Employer on several occasions.

The Scheme provider repeatedly reported the Employer to the Pensions Regulator for failing to pay pension contributions on time.

On 20 March 2020, Miss R brought her complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Miss R provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from July 2018 to January 2019, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £469.53. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix. 1 CAS-49299-H9T3 On 16 July 2020, TPO asked the Employer for its response to Miss R’s complaint.

On 27 July 2020, the Employer responded and offered to arrange payment of the unpaid contributions. It said that it could pay Miss R, or TPO, directly.

The next day, TPO responded to the Employer stating that the contributions would need to be paid to Miss R’s Scheme account.

The same day, the Employer responded to TPO and said:

“I will contact Aviva tomorrow and see how they want me to do it. I know we don’t have an account with them anymore. I will contact Aviva tomorrow and see how they want me to do it. I know we don’t have an account with them anymore. I will let you know the progress when I have contact them [SIC].”

On 13 August 2020, Miss R advised that she tried to log into her Scheme account but it had been cancelled because no contributions had been paid. Consequently, she opened a new individual plan (the Plan) that would accept the outstanding contributions from the Employer.

On 7 September 2020, TPO chased the Employer for an update. This was repeated on 7 October 2020 and 21 October 2020. The Employer failed to respond.

Caseworker’s Opinion

• The Caseworker stated that TPO’s normal approach, in cases such as these, was to seek agreement from all parties as to the facts of the case, including the dates and amounts of contributions that had not been paid. 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 Miss R.

• The Caseworker said that she had no reason to doubt the information provided by Miss R. In her view, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Miss R’s salary that had not been paid into the Scheme. In addition, the Employer had not paid any of the employer contributions that were due over

2 CAS-49299-H9T3 the same period. As a result of its maladministration, Miss R was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

• In the Caseworker’s view, Miss R had suffered significant distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Caseworker was of the view that an award of £500 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

Directions

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Miss R’s pay in respect of the period of her employment. The Schedule shall also include the corresponding employer contributions that were due to the Scheme; and

(iii) forward the Schedule to Miss R. 3 CAS-49299-H9T3

(i) pay the missing contributions into the Plan;

(ii) establish with the Scheme administrator, Aviva, whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in the Plan account than she would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time to the Scheme; and

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 28 October 2022

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Appendix Date Employee Employer contributions contributions

1 July 2018 to 31 July 2018 £0 £0

1 August 2018 to 31 August 2018 £53.57 £44.64

1 September 2018 to 30 August 2018 £49.31 £41.10

1 October 2018 to 31 October 2018 £48.93 £40.78

1 November 2018 to 30 November 2018 £45.48 £37.90

1 December 2018 to 31 December 2018 £42.29 £35.24

1 January 2019 to 31 January 2019 £16.52 £13.77

Total unpaid employee contributions £256.10

Total unpaid employer contributions £213.43

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