Smart Pension · CAS-89953-N2Y0

CAS-89953-N2Y0

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Ms L

Scheme SMART Pension (the Scheme)

Respondent Let Loose Foods Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In November 2021, Ms L began her employment with the Employer.

Between February 2022 and June 2022, the Employer failed to pay pension contributions into the Scheme.

On 27 June 2022, Ms L brought her complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Ms L provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from February 2022 to June 2022, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £50.08. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

1 CAS-89953-N2Y0 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 Ms L.

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

• In the Caseworker’s view, Ms L had suffered significant distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Caseworker was of the opinion that an award of £500 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

2 CAS-89953-N2Y0 Directions

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

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

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

Dominic Harris

Pensions Ombudsman 7 August 2023

3 CAS-89953-N2Y0 Appendix Date Employee Weekly Employer Weekly contributions contributions

07/02/22 to 13/02/22 £0.96 £0.72

14/02/22 to 20/02/22 £0.00 £0.00

21/02/22 to 27/02/22 £0.87 £0.66

28/02/22 to 06/03/22 £2.76 £2.07

07/03/22 to 13/03/22 £0.24 £0.18

14/03/22 to 20/03/22 £0.51 £0.39

21/03/22 to 27/03/22 £5.19 £3.90

28/03/22 to 03/04/22 £2.58 £1.94

04/04/22 to 10/04/22 £4.23 £3.17

11/04/22 to 17/04/22 £3.37 £2.53

18/04/22 to 24/04/22 £1.47 £1.11

25/04/22 to 01/05/22 £3.47 £2.60

02/05/22 to 08/05/22 £5.08 £3.81

09/05/22 to 15/05/22 £4.23 £3.17

16/05/22 to 22/05/22 £2.52 £1.89

23/05/22 to 29/05/22 £3.09 £2.32

30/05/22 to 05/06/22 £4.02 £3.02

06/06/22 to 12/06/22 £2.65 £1.99

13/06/22 to 19/06/22 £2.84 £2.13

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