Smart Pension Master Trust · CAS-73939-L9M9

CAS-73939-L9M9

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr Y

Scheme Smart Pension Master Trust (the Trust)

Respondent Chablais Sport GB Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary Mr Y has complained that the Employer, despite deducting contributions from his pay, has failed to pay them into the Trust.

Mr Y has said that the missing contributions amounted to £3,334.40.

Background information, including submissions from the parties In September 2019, Mr Y began his employment with the Employer.

In November 2019, Mr Y was enrolled into the Trust.

Contributions were deducted from Mr Y’s wages; however, nothing was paid into the Trust.

On 17 June 2021, Mr Y brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Mr Y provided copies of the payslips he held covering the period from 1 December 2019 to 31 July 2021 which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. Mr Y said that the contributions, which were never paid into his pension, amounted to £3,334.40. A breakdown of the contributions has been included in the Appendix.

On 9 May 2022, TPO asked the Employer for its response to Mr Y’s complaint.

1 CAS-73939-L9M9 On 23 May 2022, the Employer responded and said that it would make monthly contributions to ensure that Mr Y’s contributions were brought up to date. It said that Mr Y was not contractually entitled to a pension until he had achieved a sales turnover of over £500,000. It said that Mr Y did not achieve this during his employment. However, it acknowledged that deductions were made, but not remitted to the Trust. So, it accepted that money was owed. It said that it would contact the Trust administrator (Smart Pension).

On 8 June 2022, TPO chased the Employer for an update regarding its contact with Smart Pension. TPO offered to provide copies of Mr Y’s payslips which would have confirmed the arrears, but the Employer failed to respond.

On 29 June 2022, Smart Pension advised Mr Y that the Employer had not made any contact with it.

On 30 June 2022, TPO chased the Employer again but, the Employer again failed to respond by the deadline.

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 confirmed the amount of contributions that were outstanding, she had to base her Opinion solely on the information provided by Mr Y.

• The Caseworker said that she had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mr Y. So, in the Caseworker’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Mr Y’s salary, that had not been paid into the Trust. 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, Mr Y was not in the financial position he ought to be in.

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

2 CAS-73939-L9M9 It will make a payment to the Trust in August 2022. It said that it will make further payments each month until the unpaid contributions are brought up to date.

The £500 award for distress and inconvenience payment was “

• That there were several employment issues that were more costly than the unpaid pension contributions. It argued that TPO should investigate these further in order to get a fuller picture of what happened during the course of Mr Y’s employment.

Ombudsman’s decision

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Directions

(i) pay Mr Y £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience he has experienced;

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions

(iii) forward the Schedule to Mr Y.

(i) pay the missing contributions to the Trust;

(ii) establish with Smart Pension whether the late payment of contributions has meant

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

4 CAS-73939-L9M9 Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from Smart Pension of any shortfall in Mr Y’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 8 December 2022

5 CAS-73939-L9M9 Appendix

Date Employee Employer contributions contributions

1 December 2019 to 31 December 2019 £104.20 £62.52

1 January 2020 to 31 January 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 February 2020 to 29 February 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 March 2020 to 31 March 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 April 2020 to 30 April 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 May 2020 to 31 May 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 June 2020 to 30 June 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 July 2020 to 31 July 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 August 2020 to 31 August 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 September 2020 to 30 September 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 October 2020 to 31 October 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 November 2020 to 30 November 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 December 2020 to 31 December 2020 £104.20 £62.52

1 January 2021 to 31 January 2021 £104.20 £62.52

1 February 2021 to 29 February 2021 £104.20 £62.52

1 March 2021 to 31 March 2021 £104.20 £62.52

1 April 2021 to 30 April 2021 £104.20 £62.52

1 May 2021 to 31 May 2021 £104.20 £62.52

1 June 2021 to 30 June 2021 £104.20 £62.52

1 July 2021 to 31 July 2021 £104.20 £62.52

Total employee contributions payable £2,084.00

Total employer contributions payable £1,250.40

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