True Potential Sipp · CAS-78683-B7V4

CAS-78683-B7V4

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr K

Scheme True Potential SIPP (the Scheme)

Respondent Downham Express Dry Cleaners Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties On 1 March 2020, the Employer purchased the company where Mr K was employed.

On 28 June 2021, Mr K got in touch with the Scheme administrator and was told no pension payments had been made to it since February 2020.

On 29 June 2021, Mr K raised the issue of the unpaid contributions with the Employer. The Employer said it was unaware of the issue and raised the matter with its accountant (the Accountant).

On 2 July 2021, the Employer received a letter from the Accountant which confirmed Mr K’s employment continued following the purchase of the company. The Accountant also said that Mr K’s enrolment to the Employer’s scheme had been completed the previous week.

On 6 July 2021, the Accountant said it had sent everything to the Scheme administrator and it was waiting for access to the Scheme’s online portal. Mr K

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contacted the Scheme administrator and was informed that it only takes two days to set up an account.

On 8 August 2021, the Accountant emailed and confirmed contributions owed were reflected on the monthly reports to HMRC.

On 9 August 2021, Mr K delivered a letter to the Employer. He said that if the contributions were not paid by 12 August 2021, he would report the Employer to The Pensions Regulator (TPR).

On the same day, the Employer apologised and said it was unaware pensions had not been paid. It said that the Accountant was responsible for pensions contributions.

On 11 August 2021, the Accountant emailed Mr K and said the outstanding contributions amounted to £1,614.14 and this would be submitted once it had received the reference numbers from the Scheme administrator.

On 16 August 2021, Mr K’s wife telephoned the Scheme administrator and was told it had not heard anything from the Employer or the Accountant in relation to Mr K.

On 30 September 2021, Mr K brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Mr K provided copies of the payslips that he held for the period from March 2020 to June 2021, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £1,534.33. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

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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.

• The Caseworker said that he had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mr K as the Employer agreed contributions were outstanding. So, in the Caseworker’s Opinion, contributions had been deducted from Mr K’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 K was not in the financial position he ought to be in.

• In the Caseworker’s view, Mr K 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.

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Ombudsman’s decision

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Directions

(i) establish with the Scheme whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Mr K’s Scheme account than he would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and

(ii) 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 K’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 29 March 2023

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Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions

28/03/2020 £69.24 £41.55

28/04/2020 £68.84 £41.31

28/05/2020 £68.84 £41.31

28/06/2020 £70.60 £42.36

28/07/2020 £70.59 £42.36

28/08/2020 £70.59 £42.36

28/09/2020 £70.59 £42.36

28/10/2020 £70.59 £42.36

28/11/2020 £49.88 £29.93

28/12/2020 £49.88 £29.93

28/01/2021 £49.88 £29.93

28/02/2021 £49.88 £29.93

28/03/2021 £49.88 £29.93

30/04/2021 £49.88 £29.93

31/05/2021 £49.88 £29.93

30/06/2021 £49.88 £29.93

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