The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has upheld a complaint against Evolve Practice Management Limited for failing to pay contributions into a worker’s Nest pension despite deducting them from her pay.

The employer was ordered to pay £886.71 into the scheme, as well as ensure that the complainant, Miss E, is not financially disadvantaged by its maladministration, by arranging for any investment loss to be calculated and paid into the scheme.

In addition to this, the employer has been ordered to pay Miss E £1,000 for the “serious distress and inconvenience” it caused her.

Miss L complained that the employer, despite deducting contributions from her pay, had failed to pay into the scheme, suggesting that £886.71 was missing in contributions, including £380.01 in employer contributions and £506.70 in employee contributions.

Miss E brought her complaint to TPO in January 2024, after not receiving a response from the employer following her complaint about the missing pension contributions several months prior.

TPO contacted the employer in May for a response to Miss E’s complaint.

The employer responded that it would need to contact the scheme administrator to investigate why the missing contributions had not been added to Miss E’s account, as it provided screenshots showing payments it had made into the scheme and claimed the contributions had been paid.

While the employer was awaiting a response from the scheme administrator, TPO asked the employer to provide further clarification on the screenshot provided, as the payment dates were for 2023 and not the 2022 contributions the complaint was about. This received no response.

TPO requested the payslips from the employer from May to December 2022, as Miss E could only provide a payslip for November 2022.

These were provided by the employer and showed that £886.71 of contributions were missing.

The employer, however, maintained that the £886.71 of contributions had been paid, so the complaint was escalated to a formal investigation.

The case was passed on to the adjudicator, who concluded that further action was required by the employer as it had failed to remit all the contributions due to the scheme.

The complaint was passed to deputy pensions ombudsman, Camilla Barry, who said the employer had acted in breach of the scheme rules as employee contributions were deducted but held back by the employer and not paid into the scheme.

In her decision, Barry stated: “The employer failed to rectify this and did not engage with TPO or Miss E.

“The employer’s failure to pay employee and employer contributions to the scheme amounts to unjust enrichment and has caused Miss E to suffer a financial loss. The employer shall take remedial action to put this right.”

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