Nest · CAS-79308-G9J9

CAS-79308-G9J9

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Ms D

Scheme NEST (the Plan)

Respondent Outsprint Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In June 2020, Ms D began her employment with the Employer. Ms D says the Employer began pension deductions from June 2020, despite her not yet being enrolled onto the Plan.

On 6 July 2020, Ms D became a member of the Plan.

On 12 August 2020, the Employer made payments into the Plan. This consisted of £145.88 in employee contributions and £109.41 in employer contributions.

On 17 August 2020, the Employer made further payments into the plan. The amounts and contribution breakdown were identical to those paid on 12 August 2020.

On 2 December 2020, the Employer made its last payment into the Plan. This consisted of £145.88 in employee contributions and £109.41 in employer contributions.

1 CAS-79308-G9J9 In February 2021, Ms D first raised the issue of unpaid pension contributions with the Employer. She said that, between June 2020 and February 2021, the Employer had failed to pay all the required pension contributions into the Plan.

On 28 February 2021, Ms D left her employment with the Employer.

Between April 2021 and October 2021, Ms D received several communications from NEST. These informed Ms D it had reported the Employer to The Pensions Regulator (TPR) for late payment of contributions.

On 14 October 2021, Ms D brought her complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Ms D provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from June 2020 to October 2020, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay and the corresponding employer contributions. Ms D was unable to provide the payslips for her remaining time with the Employer. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix, however an accurate figure of the total unpaid contributions cannot be given due to the missing payslips.

On 5 August 2022, Ms D confirmed she had received no correspondence from the Employer since she had brought the complaint to TPO.

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 Ms D.

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

• In the Caseworker’s view, Ms D had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Caseworker was of the opinion that

2 CAS-79308-G9J9 an award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

Directions

(i) pay Ms D £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience she has experienced;

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

(iii) forward the Schedule to Ms D.

(i) pay the missing contributions to the Plan;

(ii) establish with the Plan whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Ms D’s Plan account than she would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and 3 CAS-79308-G9J9 (iii) pay any reasonable administration fee should the Plan administrator charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

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

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 8 December 2022

4 CAS-79308-G9J9 Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions

26/06/2020 £88.30 £66.22

28/07/2020 £145.88 £109.41

26/08/2020 £145.88 £109.41

28/09/2020 £145.88 £109.41

28/10/2020 £145.88 £109.41

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