The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has upheld a complaint against Wentworth Rest Home Limited for failing to pay contributions into a worker’s pension due to maladministration.

Wentworth Rest Home Limited was ordered to pay £538.77 into the scheme and ensure that the complainant, Mrs W, was not financially disadvantaged by its maladministration by arranging for any investment loss to be calculated and paid back.

In addition to this, the employer was told to pay Mrs W an additional £1,000 for the "serious distress and inconvenience" it caused her.

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

On 10 May 2023, Mrs W contacted the employer about the missing pension contributions, but the employer did not respond. She complained again in September of the same year but again did not receive a response.

The complaint was then brought to TPO on 11 November 2023, with TPO provided with copies of the payslips with the pension contributions deducted.

On 7 May 2024, the employer provided evidence of its payroll record, showing that these contributions had been collected by the scheme, to which TPO asked for evidence from the employer to show these contributions had been paid into the scheme.

However, on 12 June 2024, the scheme administrator confirmed that it had attempted to collect the contributions, but the direct debit was returned unpaid and the contributions remained unpaid.

TPO informed the employer of the scheme administrator’s response and asked the employer for a response on 13 June 2024, this request was repeated on 28 June 2024. Neither of these requests received a response.

However, the employer agreed the contributions had not been paid on 11 July 2024 and said it was waiting for the scheme administrator to respond. TPO followed up on 18 July and asked for an update.

Mrs W provided TPO with an email from the scheme administrator which confirmed five months of missing contributions. TPO gave the employer 14 days to respond but it failed to respond by the given deadline.

The case was then passed on to the adjudicator who said Mrs W had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the employer’s maladministration and said an award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate for the circumstances.

The employer did not respond to the adjudicator's decision, which meant the case was passed over to the deputy ombudsman, Anthony Arter, who agreed with the adjudicator's opinion.

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

“I find that the employee contributions were deducted but held back by the employer and not paid into the scheme. The employer failed to rectify this and did not engage with either TPO or Mrs W. It has also failed to respond to 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 W to suffer a financial loss. The employer shall take remedial action to put this right.

“Mrs W 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 its failure to respond during TPO’s investigation into Mrs W’s complaint.”

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