Nest Pension Plan · CAS-85781-M8K2

CAS-85781-M8K2

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr H

Scheme NEST Pension Plan (the Plan)

Respondent Staylists Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties On 8 October 2019, the Employer paid its last pension contribution into the Plan.

In November 2021, Mr H was made redundant by the Employer.

0n 9 November 2021, Mr H contacted the Employer about the unpaid contributions. He said that his NEST account was showing that no pension contributions had been paid since October 2019.

On 11 November 2021, the Employer acknowledged the outstanding pension contributions and said this would be dealt with.

On 20 November 2021, Mr H chased the Employer regarding the outstanding pension contributions.

On 19 March 2022, Mr H submitted an application to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

1 CAS-85781-M8K2 Mr H provided copies of the payslips that he held for the period from September 2019 to November 2021, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £5,659.11. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

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 H.

• The Caseworker said that he had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mr H. So, in the Caseworker’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Mr H’s salary, that had not been paid into the Plan. 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 H was not in the financial position he ought to be in.

• In the Caseworker’s view, Mr H 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

2 CAS-85781-M8K2

Directions

(i) pay Mr H £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience he has experienced;

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Mr H’s pay in respect of the period of his employment. The Schedule shall also include the corresponding employer contributions that were due to the Plan; and

(iii) forward the Schedule to Mr H.

(i) pay the missing contributions to the Plan;

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

(iii) pay any reasonable administration fee should the Plan administrator charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

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

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 8 December 2022

3 CAS-85781-M8K2 Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions

26/09/2019 £72.96 (Paid) £91.07 (Paid)

26/10/2019 £72.86 £91.07

29/11/2019 £72.86 £91.07

30/12/2019 £72.86 £91.07

26/01/2020 £72.86 £91.07

28/02/2020 £72.86 £91.07

30/03/2020 £72.86 £91.07

24/04/2020 £79.20 £99.00

29/05/2020 £79.20 £99.00

26/06/2020 £79.20 £99.00

31/072020 £112.54 £140.67

27/08/2020 £112.54 £140.67

25/09/2020 £112.54 £140.67

30/10/2020 £112.54 £140.67

27/11/2020 £112.54 £140.67

24/12/2020 £112.54 £140.67

31/01/2021 £112.54 £140.67

26/02/2021 £112.54 £140.67

26/03/2021 £112.54 £140.67

30/04/2021 £112.54 £140.67

28/05/2021 £112.54 £140.67

26/06/2021 £112.54 £140.67

26/07/2021 £112.54 £140.67

26/08/2021 £112.54 £140.67

29/09/2021 £112.54 £140.67

4 CAS-85781-M8K2 26/0/2021 £112.54 £140.67

19/11/2021 £39.81 £49.76

Unpaid Contributions £2,515.21 £3,143.90

Total Unpaid Contributions: £5,659.11

5