Nest · CAS-73225-T0P6

CAS-73225-T0P6

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr N

Scheme NEST (the Scheme)

Respondent Johnson Gillies Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In July 2018, Mr N began his employment with the Employer.

Mr N provided copies of the payslips that he held covering the period from June 2019 to August 2020, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. Mr N has said that these contributions were never remitted to the Scheme and amounted to £1,734.75. A breakdown of the contributions has been included in the Appendix.

Mr N contacted the Employer on 4 November 2020 and requested that the unpaid pension contributions be paid into the Scheme. This request was repeated on 12 March 2021. But the Employer failed to respond to Mr N’s requests.

1 CAS-73225-T0P6 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 any of TPO’s communications, she had based her Opinion solely on the information provided by Mr N.

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

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

Ombudsman’s decision

2 CAS-73225-T0P6 Directions

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

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

(i) pay the missing contributions into the Scheme;

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

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

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

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 29 September 2022

3 CAS-73225-T0P6 Appendix Date Employee Employer contributions contributions

1 June 2019 to 30 June 2019 £66.19 £49.65

1 July 2019 to 31 July 2019 £66.19 £49.65

1 August 2019 to 31 August 2019 £66.19 £49.65

1 September 2019 to 30 September 2019 £66.19 £49.65

1 October 2019 to 31 October 2019 £66.19 £49.65

1 November 2019 to 30 November 2019 £66.19 £49.65

1 December 2019 to 31 December 2019 £66.19 £49.65

1 January 2020 to 31 January 2020 £66.19 £49.65

1 February 2020 to 29 February 2020 £66.19 £49.65

1 March 2020 to 31 March 2020 £66.19 £49.65

1 April 2020 to 30 April 2020 £65.87 £49.40

1 May 2020 to 31 May 2020 £65.87 £49.40

1 June 2020 to 30 June 2020 £65.87 £49.40

1 July 2020 to 31 July 2020 £65.87 £49.40

1 August 2020 to 31 August 2020 £65.87 £49.40

Total unpaid employee contributions £991.25

Total unpaid employer contributions £743.50

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