The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has upheld a complaint against George Tidbury for failing to pay contributions into a worker’s Nest pension due to maladministration.

The employer was ordered to pay £86.82 into the pension scheme, as well as ensure that the complainant, Ms N, is not financially disadvantaged by its maladministration by arranging for any investment loss to be calculated and paid into the scheme.

Ms N complained that the employer, despite deducting contributions from her pay, failed to pay them into the scheme, or on time.

The complainant contacted the scheme administrator about unpaid contributions and was told to contact the employer.

The employer confirmed it would pay all outstanding payments, as this was not acted upon Ms N brought her complaint to TPO.

Ms N received a letter from the scheme administrator, which stated that it had reported the employer to The Pensions Regulator for non-payment of contributions.

TPO contacted the employer about the missing contributions and for further information about the complaint, to which it responded that it was gathering the requested evidence.

TPO repeated the request for evidence several times but the employer, despite receiving extensions for submissions of evidence, did not provide a response.  

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

The adjudicator said Ms N may have suffered some distress and inconvenience as a result of this maladministration from the employer.

However, in these specific circumstances, he was of the opinion that Ms N did not qualify for an award for non-financial injustice considering the employer was not a for-profit company.

The employer accepted the adjudicator's decision and provided a calculation for the outstanding contributions as well as the calculation for the investment loss due to late payments.

However, this was not paid into Ms N’s scheme account so the complaint was passed over to the deputy ombudsman, Camilla Barry, who agreed with the adjudicator's opinion.

In her decision, Barry said: “Ms N has complained that the employer has not paid all the contributions due to her scheme account and that all have not been paid on time.

“I find that employee contributions were deducted but held back by the employer and not paid into the scheme. There were also occasions where contributions were paid significantly late.

“The employer failed to rectify this and did not adequately engage with TPO or Ms N.  

“The employer’s failure to pay employee and employer contributions into the scheme or on time amounts to unjust enrichment and has caused Ms N to suffer a financial loss.”

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