Now Pensions · CAS-81188-B6P0

CAS-81188-B6P0

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr R

Scheme Now: Pensions (the Scheme)

Respondent TMR Services Ltd (trading as The Tin Hat) (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties On 24 November 2021, Mr R brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO). He complained that the Employer was not paying pension contributions into the Scheme.

As part of his complaint, Mr R’s representative (the Representative) expressed concern that Mr R was not properly enrolled in the Scheme. The Representative said that Mr R had not received any communications that related to his Scheme enrolment.

On 5 August 2022, TPO contacted the Scheme administrator to find out whether Mr R was enrolled into the Scheme.

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On 22 September 2022, the Representative provided copies of the payslips that Mr R held for the period from February 2021 to September 2022, which detailed the employee pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. The deductions amounted to £896.00 The employer contributions amounted to £1,357.17.

A breakdown of the deductions and employer contributions has been included in the Appendix. The Appendix does not cover the entire period of February 2021 to September 2022, as Mr R does not have complete payslips.

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 or the Representative. So, in the Caseworker’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Mr 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

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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.

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Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 22 November 2022

4 CAS-81188-B6P0 Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions 19/02/2021 £7.00 £12.00 26/02/2021 £6.50 £11.40 05/03/2021 £6.00 £10.80 12/03/2021 £6.25 £11.10 19/03/2021 £7.00 £12.00 27/03/2021 £6.63 £11.56 09/04/2021 £8.25 £13.50 16/04/2021 £5.50 £10.20 23/04/2021 £6.84 £11.81 30/04/2021 £6.00 £10.88 07/05/2021 £6.75 £11.70 14/05/2021 £5.67 £10.40 21/05/2021 £7.71 £12.86 28/05/2021 £9.05 £14.46 04/06/2021 £9.13 £14.56 11/06/2021 £9.38 £14.85 18/06/2021 £8.13 £13.36 25/06/2021 £9.17 £14.60 02/07/2021 £9.55 £15.06 09/07/2021 £10.84 £16.60 16/07/2021 £11.88 £17.85 23/07/2021 £9.42 £14.90 30/07/2021 £12.50 £18.60 06/08/2021 £10.38 £16.05 13/08/2021 £11.75 £17.70 20/08/2021 £9.88 £15.45 27/08/2021 £12.75 £18.90 03/09/2021 £10.50 £16.20 10/09/2021 £10.96 £16.76 17/09/2021 £10.13 £15.76 24/09/2021 £9.75 £15.30 08/10/2021 £12.67 £18.80 15/10/2021 £10.50 £16.20

5 CAS-81188-B6P0 22/10/2021 £11.00 £16.80 29/10/2021 £11.25 £17.10 05/11/2021 £11.88 £17.85 12/11/2021 £11.13 £16.96 19/11/2021 £12.75 £18.90 26/11/2021 £11.46 £17.36 03/12/2021 £16.28 £23.13 10/12/2021 £15.18 £21.81 17/12/2021 £15.82 £22.59 24/12/2021 £13.44 £19.72 31/12/2021 £17.79 24.95 07/01/2022 £5.23 £7.53 14/01/2022 £15.13 £21.76 21/01/2022 £12.61 £18.73 28/01/2022 £10.64 £16.37 04/02/2022 18.43 25.72 11/02/2022 £13.12 £19.34 18/02/2022 £11.74 £17.69 25/02/2022 £19.12 £26.55 04/03/2022 £13.90 £20.28 11/03/2022 £12.02 £18.02 18/03/2022 £14.77 £21.32 25/03/2022 £11.88 £17.85 01/04/2022 £6.65 £11.45 08/04/2022 £9.50 £15.00 15/04/2022 £13.94 £20.33 22/04/2022 £13.30 £19.56 29/04/2022 £13.90 £20.28 06/05/2022 £13.16 £19.40 13/05/2022 £13.16 £19.39 20/05/2022 £11.19 17.03 27/05/2022 £10.60 £16.32 03/06/2022 £13.71 £20.05 10/06/2022 £14.45 £20.94 17/06/2022 £14.72 £21.26 24/06/2022 £12.66 £18.79

6 CAS-81188-B6P0 01/07/2022 £12.84 £19.01 08/07/2022 £12.43 £18.52 15/07/2022 £11.93 £17.91 22/07/2022 £14.49 £20.99 29/07/2022 £12.02 £18.02 05/08/2022 £13.85 £20.22 12/08/2022 £15.50 £22.20 19/08/2022 £13.58 £19.89 26/08/2022 £11.65 £17.58 02/09/2022 £15.78 £22.53

Total £896.00 £1,357.17

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