Peoples Pension · CAS-103987-D5H0

CAS-103987-D5H0

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr E

Scheme The People’s Pension (the Scheme)

Respondent Boyd International Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary Mr E has complained that the Employer, despite deducting contributions from his pay, has failed to pay them into the Scheme.

Mr E has said that the missing contributions amounted to £1,898.61.

Background information, including submissions from the parties

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

On 24 May 2022, Mr E said he was notified by People’s Pension that contributions from the Employer had stopped being paid into the Scheme.

On the same day, Mr E raised his concerns with the Employer.

Mr E provided copies of the payslips that he held for the period from December 2021 to February 2023, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from his pay CAS-77197-F9W8 and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £1,898.61. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

On 8 April 2023, Mr E brought his complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

On 10 November 2023, TPO asked the Employer for its formal response to Mr E’s complaint. This request was repeated on 24 November 2023. None of these requests received a response.

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 Mr E .

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

• In the Caseworker’s view, Mr E 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 Mr E £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience he has experienced;

(ii) £1,898.61 Mr E ’s Mr E

;

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

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

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 26 April 2024

3 CAS-77197-F9W8 Appendix Date Employee Employer contributions contributions

December 2021 £79.20 £59.40

January 2022 £79.20 £59.40

February 2022 £79.20 £59.40

March 2022 £60.18 £45.13

April 2022 £79.20 £59.40

May 2022 £79.20 £59.40

June 2022 £79.20 £59.40

July 2022 £79.20 £59.40

August 2022 £79.20 £59.40

September 2022 £79.20 £59.40

October 2022 £79.20 £59.40

November 2022 £63.89 £47.92

December 2022 £79.20 £59.40

January 2023 £79.20 £59.40

February 2023 £10.45 £7.84

£1,084.92 £813.69

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