Scottish Widows · CAS-104629-R1D4

CAS-104629-R1D4

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr R

Scheme Scottish Widows (the Scheme)

Respondent Key Security Group Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In December 2021, Mr R began his employment with the Employer.

On 22 April 2023, Mr R brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Mr R provided copies of the payslips that he held for the period from December 2021 to April 2023, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to approximately £1,897.98. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

1 CAS-104629-R1D4 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. He said that, as the Employer had not responded to any of TPO’s communications, he had to base his Opinion solely on the information provided by Mr R.

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

• In the Caseworker’s view, Mr R 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

2 CAS-104629-R1D4

Directions

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

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Mr R’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 R.

(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 R’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 Scheme administrator of any shortfall in Mr R’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 1 December 2023

3 CAS-104629-R1D4 Appendix

Date Employee contributions Employer contributions (£) (£)

10/04/2023 35.10 21.06

10/03/2023 108.48 65.09

10/02/2023 101.30 60.78

10/01/2023 90.87 54.52

10/12/2022 109.52 65.71

10/11/2022 100.36 60.22

10/10/2022 93.60 56.16

10/09/2022 118.16 70.89

10/08/2022 84.89 50.94

10/07/2022 127.04 76.22

10/06/2022 103.38 62.03

10/05/2022 112.54 67.52

10/05/2022 112.54 67.52

10/04/2022 93.21 55.93

10/03/2022 68.40 41.04

10/02/2022 N/A N/A

10/01/2022 N/A N/A

10/12/2022 N/A N/A

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