Peoples Pension · CAS-90488-X5C5

CAS-90488-X5C5

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr Y

Scheme The People’s Pension (the Scheme)

Respondent Fenestration Recycling Company Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In June 2021, Mr Y began receiving letters from the Scheme informing him that pension contributions were not being paid by the Employer.

In July 2022, Mr Y brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Mr Y provided copies of the payslips that he held for the period from September 2020 to March 2022 which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix. CAS-90488-X5C5

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 failed to fully respond to TPO’s communications, she had to base her Opinion largely 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 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, 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.

Ombudsman’s decision

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Directions

(i) pay Mr Y £500 for the significant distress and inconvenience he has experienced;

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

(iii) forward the Schedule to Mr Y.

(i) pay the missing contributions to the Scheme;

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

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

Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from The People’s 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 CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 24 October 2023

3 CAS-90488-X5C5 Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions

30/09/2020 £34.16 £25.62

30/10/2020 £31.68 £23.76

30/11/2020 £34.30 £25.73

23/12/2020 £34.63 £25.97

31/01/2021 £24.14 £18.10

28/02/2021 Payslip not provided Payslip not provided

31/03/2021 Payslip not provided Payslip not provided

30/04/2021 Payslip not provided Payslip not provided

31/05/2021 Payslip not provided Payslip not provided

30/06/2021 Payslip not provided Payslip not provided

31/07/2021 £36.49 £27.37

31/08/2021 £39.55 £29.66

30/09/2021 £47.69 £35.77

31/10/2021 £42.92 £32.19

30/11/2021 £45.26 £33.95

31/12/2021 £47.60 £35.70

29/01/2022 £39.68 £29.76

28/02/2022 £31.04 £23.28

31/03/2022 £31.04 £23.28

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