Smart Pension Master Trust · CAS-32892-M2C1

CAS-32892-M2C1

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr G

Scheme Smart Pension Master Trust (the Scheme)

Respondents Bodyshop Repair Network Limited (the Employer)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties The sequence of events is not in dispute, so I have only set out the salient points. I acknowledge there were other exchanges of information between all the parties.

On 2 January 2019, Smart Pension, the Scheme administrator, reported the Employer to The Pensions Regulator (TPR) for late payment of pension contributions to the Scheme since November 2018.

On 15 February 2019, the Employer requested a payment plan from Smart Pension in order to bring the Scheme contributions up to date. As per the terms of the

1 CAS-32892-M2C1 payment plan, Mr G’s contributions, up to and including 31 January 2019, were due to be paid to the Scheme by April 2019.

On 12 March 2019, Smart Pension was unable to collect payment for the first instalment and the Employer defaulted on the payment plan.

On 28 March 2019, Smart Pension again reported the Employer to TPR and continued to attempt to take payment for contributions uploaded to its platform.

On 23 April 2019, Mr G contacted the Employer to ask when contributions paid to the Scheme would be brought up to date.

On 13 June 2019, Mr G contacted the Employer to advise that Smart Pension had confirmed the contributions to the Scheme were still not up to date. Mr G also ceased working for the Employer on this date.

On 17 June 2019, the Employer requested a new payment plan from Smart Pension.

On 25 June 2019, Smart Pension confirmed a three-month payment plan which included Mr G’s contributions up to and including 28 February 2019 in the first instalment. Payment for Mr G’s remaining contributions was included in the second instalment.

In September 2019, Smart Pension advised Mr G that payments were up to date to the end of May 2019.

Smart Pension’s position

The Employer’s position

It does not understand why it is being approached by The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) as the issues were caused by Smart Pension and Mr G’s payments are all up to date.

It had uploaded the payroll to Smart Pension who had not calculated the month of June 2019 as it was not a full month worked. The Pension Increase Deduction was

2 CAS-32892-M2C1 due to Smart Pension not calculating the correct increases in employer and employee contributions with effect from April 2019.

Any redress should come from Smart Pension who has made errors in its administration of the Scheme. The matter was also being investigated by “GRC” relating to the way Smart Pension handled pension matters.

Adjudicator’s Opinion

It is disappointing that the Employer failed to co-operate fully with TPO or Smart Pension. Despite requesting evidence that all of the outstanding contributions had been paid to the Scheme and a copy of the alleged complaint correspondence with GRC, this has not been forthcoming from the Employer. Furthermore, despite TPO requesting clarity, the Employer failed to explain who GRC are. As a consequence, this matter took far longer to resolve than would otherwise have been the case.

The Employer did not respond to the Adjudicator’s Opinion and the complaint was passed to me to consider. I agree with the Adjudicator’s Opinion.

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The Employer has failed to provide evidence to show that the contributions due to the Scheme for the period 1 June to 14 June 2019 amounting to £366.85 have been paid. While the Employer did remit outstanding payments up to the end of May 2019, it failed to fully rectify this and did not engage with either my Office or Mr G adequately. It has also failed to respond to the Adjudicator's Opinion.

Directions

(i) pay £366.85 into Mr G’s account in the Scheme in respect of the total shortfall of contributions for the period 1 June to 14 June 2019;

(ii) establish with Smart Pension whether the late payment of contributions has meant that fewer units were purchased in Mr G’s Scheme account than he would have otherwise secured, had the contributions been paid on time. This is on the assumption the contributions were invested in Mr G’s chosen investment fund(s) for the periods 1 November 2018 to 28 February 2019, 1 March to 31 May 2019 and 1 June to 14 June 2019;

(iii) pay any reasonable administration fee charged by Smart Pension for making the necessary calculations;

(iv) pay Mr G £1,000 for the serious distress and inconvenience he has experienced.

4 CAS-32892-M2C1 Within 14 days of receiving confirmation from Smart Pension of any shortfall in Mr G’s units, pay the cost of purchasing any additional units required to make up that shortfall in Mr G’s Scheme account.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 7 February 2023

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