Nest · CAS-70520-Y4P0

CAS-70520-Y4P0

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr N

Scheme NEST (the Scheme)

Respondent Hello Communications Group Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties Between December 2020 and February 2021, the Employer failed to pay pension contributions into the Scheme.

On 8 March 2021, the Employer emailed Mr N and said that the pension issue would be resolved in the next week. However, the issue did not get resolved.

On 4 November 2021, Mr N brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Mr N provided copies of the payslips that he held for the period from December 2020 to February 2021, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay. These deductions amounted to £152.60. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

It is not clear from the payslips what the employer contributions were. However, Mr N has provided a screenshot of his NEST account, which suggests that the monthly employer contributions amounted to £38.16. 1 CAS-70520-Y4P0

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 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, 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 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 opinion that an award of £500 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

2 CAS-70520-Y4P0

Directions

(i) pay Mr N £500 for the significant 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 to the Scheme;

(ii) establish with the Scheme 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 the Scheme administrator charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

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

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 31 January 2023

3 CAS-70520-Y4P0 Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions

31 Dec 2020 £50.87

31 Jan 2021 £50.87

28 Feb 2021 £50.86

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