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

The employer was ordered to pay £2,074.45 into the pension scheme, as well as ensure that the complainant, Mrs Y, is not financially disadvantaged by its maladministration by arranging for any investment loss to be calculated and paid into the scheme.

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

Mrs Y complained that the employer, despite deducting contributions from her pay, failed to pay them all into the scheme.

The complainant contacted TPO, explaining that despite employee pension contributions being deducted from her pay, the employer had failed to pay all of them into the scheme.

Additionally, Mrs Y explained that the employer had not paid its employer contributions either.

TPO contacted the employer several times for a response to Mrs Y’s complaint, but neither of these requests received a response.

Mrs Y informed TPO that the employer had been in hospital, so this was taken into consideration, and TPO sent a further email to the employer explaining that if no response is received by a particular date, TPO would continue its formal investigation into Mrs Y’s complaint based on the information available.

The employer responded to TPO and apologised for the delay, stating that it was now able to move things forward in terms of resolving Mrs Y’s complaint but explained it was unsure how to calculate what was due for Mrs Y’s unpaid pension contributions.

On the same day, TPO informed the employer of the period of unpaid pension contributions.

The employer agreed with Mrs Y’s complaint but said again it was unsure how to make the payments and TPO referred the employer to the scheme administrator to arrange the payments.

However, the scheme administrator did not receive any further payments from the employer and TPO did not receive any further updates from it, despite four requests via email.

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

The adjudicator said as the employer had not engaged with TPO’s communications for it to provide a detailed response, he had to base his opinion solely on the information provided by Mrs Y.

The adjudicator contacted the scheme administrator to confirm whether the employer had made a payment into Mrs Y’s pension pot following its initial assurance to TPO that it would make up the missing 13 months of employee pension contributions, and investment loss on this sum.

The adjudicator found that no payment had been made following the employer’s comments to TPO.

In his opinion, Mrs Y had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the employer’s maladministration and an award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

The adjudicator's opinion letter was issued to the employer’s business address and a response was not provided so the complaint was passed over to the ombudsman, Dominic Harris, who agreed with the adjudicator's opinion.

In his decision, Harris said: “Mrs Y has complained that the employer has not paid all the contributions due to her scheme account.

“I find that employee contributions were deducted but withheld by the employer and not paid into the scheme. The employer failed to rectify this and resolve Mrs Y’s complaint following the adjudicator’s opinion.  

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

“Mrs Y is entitled to a distress and inconvenience award in respect of the serious ongoing non-financial injustice which she has suffered. This was exacerbated by the employer’s continuing failure to resolve the dispute during TPO’s investigation into Mrs Y’s complaint.”

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