Nest · CAS-45974-W8B9

CAS-45974-W8B9

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr R

Scheme NEST (the Scheme)

Respondent D-LEC Services Lincoln Limited (D-LEC)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties and timeline of events The sequence of events is not in dispute, so I have only set out the salient points.

• D-LEC deducted contributions from his pay up to the time that he left its employment.

1 CAS-45974-W8B9 • After the initial payment in July 2018, D-LEC had failed to remit any further employee or employer contributions to his Scheme account.

• D-LEC sent him electronic copies of his payslips to his work email address. As he no longer has access to this email account, he is unable to confirm the amount of the outstanding contributions. He is also unable to provide a copy of his contract of employment.

Adjudicator’s Opinion

• The Adjudicator stated that TPO’s Office’s normal approach, in cases such as these, was to seek agreement from all parties as to the facts of the case, including the dates and amounts of contributions involved. He said that, as D-LEC had not responded to any of TPO’s Office’s communications, he had to base his Opinion solely on the information provided by Mr R.

• The Adjudicator said that he had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mr R. So, in the Adjudicator’s opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Mr R’s salary, that had not been paid into the Scheme for the period from July 2018 to October 2019. In addition, D-LEC had not paid any of the employer contributions that were due over the same period. As a result of its maladministration, Mr R was not in the financial position he ought to be in.

• In the Adjudicator’s view, Mr R had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to D-LEC’s maladministration. An award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

2 CAS-45974-W8B9

Directions To put matters right, D-LEC shall, within 28 days of the date of this Determination:

• pay Mr R £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience he has experienced;

• produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Mr R’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

• forward the Schedule to Mr R.

• pay the missing contributions to the Scheme;

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

• pay any reasonable administration fee should NEST charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 14 December 2021 3