Peoples Pension Scheme · CAS-110995-S7Z8

CAS-110995-S7Z8

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr T

Scheme People’s Pension Scheme (the Scheme)

Respondents Car Valeting Supplies T/A CVS2020.com Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome 1. Mr T’s complaint is upheld and, to put matters right, the Employer shall pay £1,280.61 into the Scheme. The Employer shall ensure that Mr T is not financially disadvantaged by its maladministration. So, it shall arrange for any investment loss to be calculated and paid into the Scheme.

Complaint summary

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20. Mr T’s complaint was considered by one of our Adjudicators who concluded that further action was required by the Employer as it had failed to remit the contributions that were due to the Scheme. The Adjudicator’s findings are summarised below:-

• The Adjudicator 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 provided sufficient evidence of the pension contributions being paid to the Scheme, he had to base his Opinion solely on the information provided by Mr T.

• The Adjudicator, based on the information provided by Mr T was satisfied that £800.38 of employee pension contributions and £480.23 of employer pension were not remitted to the Scheme.

• The Adjudicator said that he had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mr T. So, in the Adjudicator's view, contributions had been deducted from Mr T’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 T was not in the financial position he ought to be in.

• In the Adjudicator’s view, Mr T had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Adjudicator was of the opinion an award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

21. On 30 May 2024, the Employer agreed to pay £1,280.16 into the Scheme. It said however that it felt the compensation for Mr T was unwarranted.

22. TPO asked Mr T for his comments on the Employer’s response. On 5 June 2024, Mr T confirmed that whilst he remained unhappy with the Employer’s response, he would accept £1,280.16 being paid to the Scheme as a revised resolution to his complaint.

23. On 9 July 2024, Mr T informed TPO that the outstanding contributions had not been paid to the Scheme.

24. On 12 July 2024, the Employer told TPO that he would make the payment to the Scheme if the outstanding amount could be spread over four instalments. It also confirmed the first payment would be made immediately.

25. On 15 July 2024, Mr T agreed that the outstanding amount could be paid to the Scheme in four instalments. TPO confirmed this to the Employer on the same day and that the first payment was to be made immediately.

26. On 24 July 2024, Mr T told TPO no payment had been made to the Scheme. 3 CAS-110995-S7Z8 27. On 26 July 2024, TPO asked the Employer to provide an update on the settlement it had proposed. A response was not received from the Employer.

28. As the Employer failed to abide by the agreement following the Adjudicator’s Opinion, Mr T’s complaint was passed to me to consider. I agree with the Adjudicator’s Opinion.

Ombudsman’s decision

Directions 33. To put matters right, the Employer shall, within 28 days of the date of this Determination:

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

(ii) pay £1,280.61 into Mr T’s Scheme account. This figure represents the amount that, according to the figures provided by Mr T, have been deducted from his pay, but not paid into the Scheme account. It also includes the employer contributions for the relevant period which should have also been paid but have not been paid to date;

(iii) establish with the Scheme administrator whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Mr T’s Scheme account than he would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and

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

4 CAS-110995-S7Z8 34. Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from the Scheme administrator of any shortfall in Mr T’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman

9 August 2024

Appendix 5 CAS-110995-S7Z8 Month - pay Date of pay Employee Year to date Year to date Year-end total period slip contributions employee employer contributions contributions contributions July 2021 05/08/2021 £77 £77 £46.20

August 2021 05/09/2021 £77 £154 £92.40

September 2021 05/10/2021 £77 £231 £138.60

October 2021 05/11/2021 £77 £308 £184.80

November 2021 *Not known £73.50 £381.50 xxxx

December 2021 05/01/2022 £56 £437.50 £262.50

January 2022 05/02/2022 £47.18 £484.68 £290.81

February 2022 *Not known £77 £561.68 xxxx

March 2022 05/04/2022 £80.85 £642.53 £385.52

Year-end £642.53 £385.52 £1,028.05 contributions

April 2022 05/05/2022 £80.85 £80.75 £48.51

May 2022 05/06/2022 £77 £157.85 £94.71

Year-end £157.85 £94.71 £252.56 contributions

Total claim £800.38 £480.23 £1,280.61

*Payslip not provided so figures taken from year-to-date total.

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