The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has upheld a complaint against Simon Marshall Holdings, ordering the employer to pay the complainant £1,000 for the “serious” distress and inconvenience it caused.

The complainant, Ms N, said that the company failed to pay her pension contributions into her Nest pension pot, despite deducting them from her pay.

Ms N brought her complaint to TPO in April 2023, providing notification letters from the scheme administrator that confirmed that contributions were either unpaid or the employer failed to notify it that they were due.

The scheme administrator’s letters showed that the employee and employer contributions for June 2021 to November 2022, amounted to £3,311.56.

In addition to this, the employer failed to pay any of the employer contributions that were due over the same period.

Whilst TPO requested a response from the employer on 5 April 2024, and again on 19 April 2024, no response was received. TPO also chased the employer again via letter and email in July, although the employer failed to respond by the deadline.

Despite the lack of response, the adjudicator on the case said that she had “no reason” to doubt the information provided by Ms N, concluding that, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Ms N’s salary, but had not been paid into the scheme.

She also concluded that, as a result of its maladministration, Ms N was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

Deputy pensions ombudsman, Anthony Arter, agreed that the employer’s failure to pay employee and employer contributions into the scheme amounted to unjust enrichment and caused Ms N to suffer a financial loss.

Given this, he ordered the employer to take remedial action to put this right, including by paying £3,902.38 into Ms N’s scheme account.

Arter also directed the employer to establish with the scheme administrator 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 to pay the cost of any additional units required to make up any shortfall.

Simon Marshall Holdings was also told to pay £1,000 for the “serious” distress and inconvenience it caused.

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