Scottish Widows Personal Pension Plan · CAS-45715-S9M3

CAS-45715-S9M3

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Miss N

Scheme Scottish Widows Personal Pension Plan (the Plan)

Respondent Topmove Estate Agents Ltd (Topmove)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties and timeline of events The sequence of events is not in dispute, so I have only set out the salient points. I acknowledge there were other exchanges of information between all the parties.

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• She has been chasing Topmove for several months for a breakdown of the employee and employer contributions paid to the Plan. She was told that the contributions were up to date; she has not received any information to support this.

• Topmove has not acknowledged that it has an obligation to pay the employer contributions to her pension.

• The Plan showed only three payments made by Topmove during her employment; a further £625.88 was received by Scottish Widows on 13 May 2020. The payment was not initially allocated to her account because Topmove had not supplied the employee/employer split. It was then allocated as an employer contribution despite it appearing to be an employee contribution.

• Due to the late payment of the contributions, she missed out on potential investment returns. Furthermore, the tax relief due on those contributions was not applied correctly.

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4 CAS-45715-S9M3 Adjudicator’s Opinion

• the issue Miss N had raised concerning the split of contributions between employee and employer;

• whether Miss N had incurred any investment loss as a result of the late investment of the contributions; and

• whether she had suffered any distress and inconvenience as a result of Topmove’s maladministration.

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Topmove did not respond to the Adjudicator’s Opinion and the complaint was passed to me to consider.

I agree with the Adjudicator’s Opinion.

Ombudsman’s decision

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I uphold Miss N’s complaint.

Directions

• Pay Miss N £1,000, for the serious distress and inconvenience it has caused her.

• Forward copies of Appendices 1 and 2 to Scottish Widows. Ask it to adjust its records so that the contributions and units in the Plan remitted to it by Topmove, as documented in Appendix 2, are allocated correctly between employee and employer contributions based on the information in Appendix 1.

• Request that Scottish Widows notify Miss N, and HM Revenue & Customs, of any corrective action that it subsequently undertakes in respect of any tax relief due on the employee contributions.

• Establish with Scottish Widows whether the late payment of contributions has meant fewer units were purchased in the Plan than would have been bought if the contributions had been paid on time. Ask it to confirm, if there is such a shortfall, the cost of purchasing the missing units. 7 CAS-45715-S9M3 • Pay any reasonable administration fee should Scottish Widows charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

• Stress to Scottish Widows that Miss N made regular contributions to the Plan before she was employed by Topmove, and these should not be adjusted or taken into account in any calculations.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 17 November 2023

8 CAS-45715-S9M3 Appendix 1 Summary of contributions

The employee contribution figures below have been taken from Miss N’s payslips and information supplied by Topmove. The employer contribution figures have been agreed between Miss N and Topmove and are based on Miss N’s calculations.

Payslip date Employee Employer Total (£) contributions (£) contributions (£)

31 July 2018 0.00 0.00 0.00

31 August 2018 10.15 6.76 16.91

30 September 2018 8.03 5.35 13.38

31 October 2018 11.70 7.79 19.49

30 November 2018 16.92 4.83 21.75

31 December 2018 61.20 6.12 67.32

31 January 2019 61.20 6.12 67.32

28 February 2019 41.88 4.19 46.07

31 March 2019 61.20 6.12 67.32

03 May 2019 62.58 9.39 71.97

31 May 2019 56.01 8.40 64.41

30 June 2019 56.01 8.40 64.41

31 July 2019 62.58 9.39 71.97

31 August 2019 62.58 9.39 71.97

30 September 2019 42.88 6.43 49.31

01 November 2019 56.01 8.40 64.41

04 December 2019 29.74 4.46 34.20

31 December 2019 29.74 4.46 34.20

01 February 2020 3.47 0.52 3.99

29 February 2020 0.00 0.00 0.00

Total 733.88 116.52 850.40

9 CAS-45715-S9M3 Appendix 2 Summary of how payments made to the Plan by Topmove were invested by Scottish Widows

Date paid Employee Employer Total (£) contributions (£) contributions (£)

8 November 2018 29.88 0.00 29.88

2 January 2019 16.92 61.20 78.12

12 May 2020 0.00 625.88 625.88

30 September 2021 0.00 116.52 116.52

Total 46.80 803.60 850.40

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