Nest · CAS-87346-Q4Y0

CAS-87346-Q4Y0

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Ms S

Scheme NEST (the Scheme)

Respondent Vocational Skills Solutions Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties Between September 2021 and March 2022, the Employer failed to pay pension contributions into the Scheme.

On 25 April 2022, Ms S brought her complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Ms S provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from September 2021 to March 2022, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay and the corresponding employer contributions. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

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Caseworker’s Opinion

• The Caseworker said 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. In this case, the Employer accepted that contributions had not been paid.

• As a result of the Employer’s maladministration, Ms S was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

• In the Caseworker’s view, Ms S 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

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Directions

(i) pay Ms S £500 for the significant distress and inconvenience she has experienced;

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Ms S’ pay in respect of the period of her employment. The Schedule shall also include the corresponding employer contributions that were due to the Scheme; and

(iii) forward the Schedule to Ms S.

(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 Ms S’s Scheme account than she 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.

3 CAS-87346-Q4Y0 Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from the Scheme administrator (NEST) of any shortfall in Ms S’ units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 26 April 2023

4 CAS-87346-Q4Y0 Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions

30/9/21 £45.04 £33.78

30/10/21 £45.04 £33.78

30/11/21 £66.70 £50.03

30/12/21 £66.71 £50.03

30/01/22 £58.37 £43.78

28/02/22 £70.45 £52.84

30/3/22 £44.53 £33.40

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