Nest Pension Scheme · CAS-46218-Y6Y3

CAS-46218-Y6Y3

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Ms N

Scheme NEST Pension Scheme (the Scheme)

Respondent Alchemilla (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties

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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. She said that, as the Employer had not responded to any of TPO’s communications, she had to base her Opinion solely on the information provided by Ms N.

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

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

Ombudsman’s decision

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Directions

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

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

(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 N’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 NEST of any shortfall in Ms N’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 31 October 2022

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Appendix

Date Employee Employer contributions contributions

April 2018 £13.19 £10.99

May 2018 £9.25 £11.10

June 2018 £14.10 £16.91

July 2018 £16.08 £19.30

August 2018 £9.11 £10.92

September 2018 £9.71 £11.64

October 2018 £10.33 £12.40

November 2018 £9.40 £11.28

December 2018 £6.88 £8.24

January 2019 £5.35 £6.40

February 2019 £5.05 £6.06

March 2019 £18.66 £22.40

April 2019 £3.95 £4.74

Total £128.86 £154.58

Total contributions £283.44

Contributions £85.63 remitted to the Scheme

Unpaid contributions £197.81

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