Smart Pension Master Trust · CAS-79193-H9B3

CAS-79193-H9B3

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Miss C

Scheme The Smart Pension Master Trust (the Trust)

Respondent Made In London Clothing Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties In June 2020, Miss C was employed by the Employer.

In August 2020, the Employer stopped paying pensions contributions into the Trust.

On 10 February 2021, Miss C left her employment with the Employer.

On 23 March 2021, Miss C contacted the Employer and raised the issue of pension contributions not being paid into the Trust.

On the same day, the Employer responded and said the issue was with the Trust administrator. It added that its accountant was working on rectifying the matter and that it would keep Miss C updated when it received further information. Miss C received no further communication from the Employer.

On 12 October 2021, Miss C submitted an application to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

1 CAS-79193-H9B3 Miss C provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from August 2020 to February 2021, which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay and the corresponding employer contributions. These deductions amounted to £831.09. A breakdown of the deductions has been included in the Appendix.

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 Miss C.

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

• In the Caseworker’s view, Miss C 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

2 CAS-79193-H9B3

Directions

(i) pay Miss C £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience she has experienced;

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Miss C’s pay in respect of the period of her employment. The Schedule shall also include the corresponding employer contributions that were due to the Trust; and

(iii) forward the Schedule to Miss C.

(i) pay the missing contributions to the Trust;

(ii) establish with the Trust whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Miss C’s Trust account than she would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and

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

Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from the Trust administrator of any shortfall in Miss C’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 18 November 2022

3 CAS-79193-H9B3 Appendix Date Employee contributions Employer contributions

21/07/2020 £79.60 £47.76 (YTD)

21/08/2020 £76.30 £45.78*

21/09/2020 £55.60 £33.36*

21/10/2020 £74.80 £44.88*

21/11/2020 £92.54 £55.53*

21/12/2020 £81.76 £49.06*

30/01/2020 £68.48 £41.09*

21/02/2021 £69.94 £41.97*

Unpaid Contributions £519.42 £311.67

Total Unpaid Contributions: £831.09

*Figure obtained using Year to Date (YTD) employer contribution figures on payslips.

4