Smart Pension Master Trust · CAS-80401-S4J4

CAS-80401-S4J4

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mrs R

Scheme The Smart Pension Master Trust (the Trust)

Respondent Stellar Tax and Business Advisory Services Ltd (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties Between December 2017 and March 2020, the Employer failed to pay pension contributions into the Trust.

In November 2019, Mrs R first became aware that pensions contributions had stopped being paid into the Trust.

On 30 April 2021, Mrs R contacted the Employer and requested to become a deferred member of the Trust. She said that her deductions were not being remitted to the Trust, so she did not want to continue to pay contributions.

On 27 August 2021, the Trust reported the Employer to The Pensions regulator (TPR).

On 13 September 2021, Mrs R received an email from the Trust that confirmed that the Employer was failing to pay contributions into the Trust.

1 CAS-80401-S4J4 On 24 September 2021, Mrs R formally raised the issue of the outstanding pensions contributions with the Employer.

On 30 September 2021, Mrs R left her employment with the Employer.

On 19 October 2021, Mrs R again raised the issue of the unpaid pension contributions with the Employer.

On 8 November 2021, Mrs R brought her complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Mrs R provided copies of the payslips that she held for the period from January 2018 to March 2020 which detailed the pension contributions deducted from her pay and the corresponding employer contributions. A breakdown of the deductions from the payslips has been included in the Appendix.

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Caseworker’s Opinion

• The Caseworker said that TPO’s normal approach, in cases such as these, was to seek agreement from all parties on the facts of the complaint, including the dates and amounts of contributions involved. He said that, although the Employer provided a response and engaged in an initial informal resolution, having reviewed the available evidence, it was his opinion that not all contributions had been paid. He had to base his Opinion solely on the evidence provided by Mrs R.

• The Caseworker said that he had no reason to doubt the information provided by Mrs R. So, in the Caseworker’s Opinion, on the balance of probabilities, contributions had been deducted from Mrs R’s salary, but had not been paid into the Trust. In addition, the Employer had not paid any of the employer contributions that were due over the same period. As a result of its maladministration, Mrs R was not in the financial position she ought to be in.

• In the Caseworker’s view, Mrs R had suffered serious distress and inconvenience due to the Employer’s maladministration. The Caseworker was of the opinion that an award of £1,000 for non-financial injustice was appropriate in the circumstances.

Ombudsman’s decision

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Directions

(i) pay Mrs R an additional £180 for the serious distress and inconvenience she has experienced. This will bring the total amount paid to £1,000;

(ii) produce a schedule (the Schedule) showing the employee contributions deducted from Mrs R’s pay in respect of the period of her employment. The Schedule shall also include the corresponding employer contributions that were due to the Trust; and

(iii) forward the Schedule to Mrs R.

(i) pay the missing contributions to the Trust;

(ii) establish with the Trust whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Mrs R’s Scheme account than she would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time; and

(iii) pay any reasonable administration fee should the Smart Pensions charge a fee for carrying out the above calculation.

Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from Smart Pensions of any shortfall in Mrs R’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up the shortfall.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 30 January 2023

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Appendix Date Pension contributions

31/01/2018 £2.96

28/02/2018 £3.52

31/03/2018 £5.74

29/04/2018 £13.05

31/05/2018 £13.05

30/06/2018 £10.97

29/07/2018 £12.21

31/08/2019 £14.65

30/09/2018 £14.34

31/10/2018 £15.99

30/11/2018 £15.20

31/12/2018 £13.63

31/10/2019 £41.25

30/11/2019 £39.33

31/12/2019 £44.55

31/01/2020 £44.55

28/02/2020 £45.10

31/03/2020 £45.10

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