Options Workplace Pension Plan · CAS-97119-Y9L3

CAS-97119-Y9L3

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Ms T

Plan Options Workplace Pension Plan (the Plan)

Respondents Core TV Solutions Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

£1,605.09

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties

1 CAS-97119-Y9L3

Instead, for these months, Ms T provided TPO with copy bank statements which showed the net pay she received from the Employer. For March 2020, Ms T’s copy bank statement showed that she was not paid until 28 May 2020. This is shown in Appendix Two.

2 CAS-97119-Y9L3

pension contribution was £170.67. Ms T then said the employer pension contribution for March 2020 was £51.20.

• On 10 October 2019, the Employer paid £382.65 to the Plan with a pending status. This figure was made up of £271.16 for employee contributions and £111.49 for employer contributions.

• On 14 October 2019, the Employer paid £221.87 to the Plan, with a pending status. This figure was made up of an employee contribution of £170.67 and £51.20 as an employer contribution.

• On 19 October 2019, the Employer paid £600.14 into the Plan. This total was shown as £480.11 for employee contributions and £120.03 for employer contributions.

• On 12 November 2019, the Employer paid £221.87 to the Plan which also showed a pending status. This figure consisted of £170.67 as an employee contribution and £51.20 as an employer contribution.

• On 19 December 2019, the Employer paid £382.65 into the Plan. This figure was shown as £271.16 for employee contributions and £111.49 for employer contributions.

Adjudicator’s Opinion

• The Adjudicator 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 3 CAS-97119-Y9L3 not engaged with TPO’s communications for it to provide a detailed response, he had to base his Opinion solely on the information provided by Ms T.

• The Adjudicator set out across three Appendices details from the information provided to TPO by Ms T, which consisted of the following documentation:

- copy payslips - copy bank statements - online Taxable Income figures submitted to HMRC by the Employer - evidence of the contributions so far paid into the Plan

• Based on the information provided by Ms T, the Adjudicator concluded that the unpaid pension contributions arising during her employment between May 2019 and March 2020 amounted to £1,605.09. This figure consisted of £1,234.69 in employee pension contributions and £370.40 in employer pension contributions.

• The Adjudicator said that he had no reason to doubt the information provided by Ms T. So, in the Adjudicator’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Ms T’s salary but had not all been paid into the Plan. In addition, the Employer had not paid all the employer contributions that were due over the same period. As a result of its maladministration, Ms T was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

• In the Adjudicator’s view, Ms T had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Adjudicator was of the opinion an award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

4 CAS-97119-Y9L3

Directions

(i) pay Ms T £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience she has experienced:

(ii) pay £1,605.09 into Ms T’s Plan account. This figure represents the amount that, according to the figures provided by Ms T, have been deducted from her pay, but not paid into the Plan account. It also includes the employer contributions for the relevant period which should have also been paid but have not been paid to date;

(iii) establish with the Plan administrator whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Ms T’s Plan account than she would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and

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

Camilla Barry

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman

8 April 2025

5 CAS-97119-Y9L3 Appendix One Payslip date Employee EE year to Employer ER year to (EE) date total (ER) date total contribution contribution

*30/06/2019 £480.11 £480.11 £120.03 £120.03

26/07/2019 £100.49 £580.60 £60.29 £180.32

**August 2019 no payslip no payslip no payslip no payslip

30/09/2019 £170.67 £921.94 £51.20 £281.72

**October 2019 no payslip no payslip no payslip no payslip

30/11/2019 £180.67 £1273.28 £54.20 £388.12

31/12/2019 £170.67 £1443.95 £51.20 £439.32

**January 2020 no payslip no payslip no payslip no payslip

**29/02/2020 £190.67 £1805.29 £57.20 £547.72

**March 2020 no payslip no payslip no payslip no payslip

* June 2019 salary paid less wages advanced for May 2019.

** Copy payslip not provided

6 CAS-97119-Y9L3 Appendix Two Payroll period Date of bank Net pay HMRC taxable Payslip gross deposit received income figure salary

August 2019 30/08/2019 £1307.96 £1536 no payslip

October 2019 31/10/2019 £1307.96 £1536 no payslip

November 2019 n/a £1358.76 £1626 £1806.67

December 2019 n/a £1307.76 £1536 £1706.67

January 2020 07/02/2020 £1307.96 £1536 no payslip

March 2020 *28/05/2020 £1361.97 £1630.49 no payslip

*March 2020 deposit received late into Ms T’s bank account.

7 CAS-97119-Y9L3 Appendix Three Employee (EE) Employer (ER) EE/ER - year to date year to date year to date total payslip total payslip total

*29/02/2020 £1805.29 £547.72 £2353.01

**31/03/2020 £1985.96 £601.92 £2587.88

Total employee £751.27 deductions paid into Plan

Total employee £1234.69 deductions still to be paid

Total employer £231.52 contributions paid into Plan

Total employer £370.40 deductions still to be paid

Total £982.79 contributions paid into Plan

Total owed to £1605.09 Plan

* February year to date figure evidenced by payslip

** March year to date figure based upon HMRC and bank statement calculations.

8 CAS-97119-Y9L3 Appendix Four The Amber Pension Trust Terms and Conditions

Responsibilities of the employer Table 2

Deduction of contributions

Deducting employee contributions from workers’ salaries in accordance with the minimum requirements for Auto enrolment.

Section 20 Pensions Act 2008

20 Quality requirement: UK money purchase Plans

(1) A money purchase Plan that has its main administration in the United Kingdom

satisfies the quality requirement in relation to a jobholder if under the Plan—

(a) the jobholder's employer must pay contributions in respect of the jobholder;

(b) the employer's contribution, however calculated, must be equal to or more than 3% of

the amount of the jobholder's qualifying earnings in the relevant pay reference period;

(c) the total amount of contributions paid by the jobholder and the employer, however

calculated, must be equal to or more than 8% of the amount of the jobholder's qualifying

earnings in the relevant pay reference period.

9