Nest · CAS-47992-K5S0

CAS-47992-K5S0

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr E

Scheme NEST (the Scheme)

Respondent Berics Ltd (Berics)

Outcome

• All of the unpaid employee and employer contributions are paid into the Scheme.

• An additional payment is made into the Scheme, being the investment return that the contributions would have received had they been invested on time.

• A payment of £1,000 is made direct to Mr E for the serious distress and inconvenience caused to him.

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties

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Adjudicator’s Opinion

• The Adjudicator noted that Mr E had been unable to provide copies of all of his payslips for the period in question. Based on the information that was available, the Adjudicator produced a history of the contributions due, but not remitted, to the Scheme. This can be found in the Appendix. In summary, £387.82 employee contributions and £291.03 employer contributions had not been remitted.

• The Adjudicator said that TPO’s Office’s normal approach for cases like this would be to seek agreement from all parties as to the dates and amounts of contributions involved. He said that, as Berics had not responded to any of TPO’s Office’s communications, the schedule in the Appendix had been produced based solely on the evidence provided by Mr E.

• The Adjudicator said that he had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mr E and he confirmed that it was consistent with the copy payslips that Mr E was able to provide. It was the Adjudicator’s opinion that contributions had been deducted from Mr E’s salary, but they had not been paid into the Scheme. As a result of maladministration from Berics, Mr E was not in the position he ought to have been in.

• In the Adjudicator’s view, Mr E had also suffered serious distress and inconvenience as a result of this maladministration, and an award of £1,000 was appropriate.

Ombudsman’s decision

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I uphold Mr E’s complaint and my office will submit a report to the Pensions Regulator.

Directions

• Pay £678.85 into Mr E’s Scheme account in respect of the missing contributions for the period 20 April 2019 to 27 December 2019.

• Pay £1,000 direct to Mr E for the serious distress and inconvenience he has experienced.

• Request that NEST calculate any loss of investment gains from the due date of each contribution to the date of calculation, on the assumption the contributions were invested in Mr E’s chosen investment fund(s).

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

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 28 May 2021

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Summary of missing contributions Payment date Employee contribution (£) Employer contribution (£)

26 April 2019 10.34 7.75

3 May 2019 10.96 8.22

10 May 2019 10.78 8.09

17 May 2019 10.78 8.09

24 May 2019 10.78 8.09

31 May 2019 10.78 8.09

7 June 2019 10.78 8.09

14 June 2019 10.78 8.09

21 June 2019 10.78 8.09

28 June 2019 10.78 8.09

5 July 2019 10.78 8.09

12 July 2019 10.78 8.09

19 July 2019 10.78 8.09

26 July 2019 10.78 8.09

2 August 2019 10.78 8.09

9 August 2019 10.78 8.09

16 August 2019 10.78 8.09

23 August 2019 10.78 8.09

30 August 2019 10.78 8.09

6 September 2019 10.78 8.09

13 September 2019 10.78 8.09

20 September 2019 10.78 8.09

27 September 2019 10.78 8.09

4 October 2019 10.78 8.09

4 CAS-47992-K5S0 11 October 2019 10.78 8.09

18 October 2019 10.78 8.09

25 October 2019 10.78 8.09

1 November 2019 10.78 8.09

8 November 2019 10.78 8.09

15 November 2019 10.78 8.09

22 November 2019 10.78 8.09

29 November 2019 10.78 8.09

6 December 2019 10.78 8.09

13 December 2019 10.78 8.09

20 December 2019 10.78 8.09

27 December 2019 10.78 8.09

Total 387.82 291.03

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