Smart Pension · CAS-73469-C5L6

CAS-73469-C5L6

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Miss K

Scheme Smart Pension (the Scheme)

Respondent Heart Medical (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In July 2017, Miss K began her employment with the Employer.

In September 2018, Miss K was enrolled into the Scheme.

Miss K provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from May 2019 to June 2022, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £1,906.12. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

1 CAS-73469-C5L6

“Thank you for your email re Pension contributions. Firstly may I apologise for this whole situation and any stress or unease caused. We have a slight issue in that the pensions portal and SAGE are not talking so what should be a simple process will require manual input, that’s our issue though and we will get this sorted as a priority for you. I hope this brings you comfort that we are working on this to bring things up to date. If you want to discuss any further then please let me know.”

On 6 May 2022, TPO asked the Employer for its response to Miss K’s complaint, but, the Employer failed to respond by the deadline.

On 23 May 2022, TPO chased the Employer for a response.

On 9 June 2022, the Employer responded and apologised for the late response. It said that it wanted to resolve the issue but had been struggling to do so for a number of reasons including financial pressures related to the covid-19 pandemic. It also said that it hoped to be able to pay the unpaid contributions in full “no later than September”.

Caseworker’s Opinion

• The Caseworker 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 provided a detailed response to TPO’s communications, she had to base her Opinion solely on the information provided by Miss K.

• The Caseworker said that she had no reason to doubt the information provided by Miss K. So, in the Caseworker’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Miss K’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 the same period. As a result of its maladministration, Miss K was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

• In the Caseworker’s view, Miss K 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.

2 CAS-73469-C5L6

Ombudsman’s decision

Directions

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

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Miss K’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 K.

3 CAS-73469-C5L6 (i) pay the missing contributions to the Scheme;

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

(iii) pay any reasonable administration fee should Smart Pension charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from Smart Pension of any shortfall in Miss K’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up that shortfall.

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 28 September 2022

4 CAS-73469-C5L6 Appendix Date Employee Employer contributions contributions

1 May 2019 to 31 May 2019 £37.85 £28.39

1 June 2019 to 30 June 2019 £24.56 £18.42

1 July 2019 to 31 July 2019 £37.85 £28.39

1 August 2019 to 31 August 2019 £14.54 £10.90

1 September 2019 to 30 September 2019 £33.89 £25.42

1 October 2019 to 31 October 2019 £9.64 £7.23

1 November 2019 to 30 November 2019 £7.56 £5.67

1 December 2019 to 31 December 2019 £5.01 £3.76

1 January 2020 to 31 January 2020 £5.86 £4.39

1 February 2020 to 29 February 2020 £5.86 £4.39

1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021 £4.16 £3.12

1 April 2020 to 30 April 2020 £5.68 £4.26

1 May 2020 to 31 May 2020 £0.80 £0.60

1 June 2020 to 30 June 2020 £25.87 £19.40

1 July 2020 to 31 July 2020 £25.87 £19.40

1 August 2020 to 31 August 2020 £25.87 £19.40

1 September 2020 to 30 September 2020 £25.87 £19.40

1 October 2020 to 31 October 2020 £37.53 £28.15

1 November 2020 to 30 November 2020 £37.53 £28.15

1 December 2020 to 31 December 2020 £37.53 £28.15

1 January 2021 to 31 January 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 February 2021 to 29 February 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 March 2021 to 31 March 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 April 2021 to 30 April 2021 £37.53 £28.15

5 CAS-73469-C5L6 1 May 2021 to 31 May 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 June 2021 to 30 June 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 July 2021 to 31 July 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 August 2021 to 31 August 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 September 2021 to 30 September 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 October 2021 to 31 October 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 November 2021 to 30 November 2021 £41.85 £31.39

1 December 2021 to 31 December 2021 £37.53 £28.15

1 January 2022 to 31 January 2022 £37.53 £28.15

1 February 2022 to 29 February 2022 £37.53 £28.15

1 March 2022 to 31 March 2022 £37.53 £28.15

1 April 2022 to 30 April 2022 £37.53 £28.15

1 May 2022 to 31 May 2022 £37.53 £28.15

1 June 2022 to 30 June 2022 £37.53 £28.15

Total unpaid employee contributions £1,089.19

Total unpaid employer contributions £816.93

6