Smart Pension Master Trust · CAS-86271-N8V2

CAS-86271-N8V2

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr E

Scheme Smart Pension Master Trust (the Trust)

Respondent Terra-Vac Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties From May 2020, the Employer failed to pay pension contributions into the Trust.

On 18 August 2020, the Trust administrator wrote to Mr E and told him that the Employer had not paid any contributions into the Trust.

On 17 January 2022, Mr E complained to the Employer, but did not receive a response.

On 28 March 2022, Mr E brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Mr E provided a copy of the payslip that he held for the month of October 2022, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £29.41. Mr E has been unable to provide further payslips. The payslip also contained information on the year-to-date pension contributions. The year-to-date pension contributions amounted to £794.07.

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In October 2022, Mr E told TPO that pension contributions were still being taken from his salary.

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 responded to TPO’s communications, she had to base her Opinion solely on the information provided by Mr E.

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

• In the Caseworker’s view, Mr E had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Caseworker 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 Mr E £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience he has experienced;

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

(iii) forward the Schedule to Mr E.

(i) pay the missing contributions to the Trust;

(ii) establish with the Trust whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Mr E’s Trust account than he would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and

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

Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from the Trust administrator of any shortfall in Mr E’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 26 January 2023

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