Peoples Pension Cas 101648 K6L2 0 · CAS-101648-K6L2

CAS-101648-K6L2

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Ms N

Scheme The People’s Pension (the Scheme)

Respondent Vulcan Windows Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In February 2004, Ms N began her employment with the Employer.

Between December 2021 and January 2023, the Employer failed to pay pension contributions into the Scheme.

In May 2022, Ms N began receiving letters from the Scheme administrator informing her that the Employer had not been making contributions, Ms N subsequently raised a complaint with the Employer.

On 21 February 2023, Ms N brought her complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Ms N told us that contributions were not paid between December 2021 and January 2023. However, she was only able to provide payslips for August 2022 to December 2022. 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. 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 Ms N.

• The Caseworker said that she had no reason to doubt the information provided by Ms N. So, in the Caseworker’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Ms 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, Ms N was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

• In the Caseworker’s view, Ms N 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 N £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience she has experienced;

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Ms N’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 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 Ms N’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.

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

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 16 November 2023

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Appendix

Date Employer contributions Employee contributions

August 2022 £35.10 £37.44

September 2022 £35.10 £37.44

October 2022 £35.10 £37.44

November 2022 £35.10 £37.44

December 2022 £35.10 £37.44

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