Smart Pension · CAS-69622-R9Z2

CAS-69622-R9Z2

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr N

Scheme Smart Pension (the Scheme)

Respondent Marchwood Engineering Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties Mr N was employed by the Employer and enrolled into the Scheme. He has said that all contributions to the Scheme were deducted from his pay and paid into the Scheme until May 2019.

However, from June 2019 contributions stopped being paid into the Scheme

Mr N left his employment with the Employer in December 2019.

Mr N provided copies of the payslips that he held for the period from 1 June 2019 to 31 December 2019, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £1,469.79. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

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On 1 August 2022, The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) asked the Employer for its response to Mr N’s complaint. This request was repeated on 16 August 2022, but the Employer failed to respond in both cases.

Adjudicator’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 to base 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.

2 CAS-69622-R9Z2 Ombudsman’s decision

Directions (if applicable)

(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, Smart Pension, 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 Smart Pension charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

3 CAS-69622-R9Z2 Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 19 October 2022

4 CAS-69622-R9Z2 Appendix Date Employee Employer contributions contributions

1 June 2019 to 30 June 2019 £128.78 £77.27

1 July 2019 to 31 July 2019 £122.72 £73.63

1 August 2019 to 31 August 2019 £129.79 £77.87

1 September 2019 to 30 September 2019 £141.90 £85.14

1 October 2019 to 31 October 2019 £130.80 £78.48

1 November 2019 to 30 November 2019 £132.82 £79.69

1 December 2019 to 31 December 2019 £131.81 £79.09

Total unpaid employee contributions £918.62

Total unpaid employer contributions £551.17

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