Mr. W filed a complaint with the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) against his company for failing to add his pension contributions between July 2022 and September 2023. Despite £2,498.74 being deducted from his salary, no contributions were made to his pension fund.
The employer was ordered to pay Mr. W £1,000 for the distress and inconvenience caused, in addition to the outstanding contributions. In another case, Mr.
S discovered his employer hadn’t been contributing to his pension after being made redundant. The missing contributions amounted to £1,312.50.
Employer fails to add contributions
Despite providing supporting bank statements and HMRC records, the employer did not respond to communications from TPO. The employer was ordered to pay Mr. S £1,000 for the distress and inconvenience, and to ensure any related administration fees were covered.
A spokesperson from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) stated: “To ensure savers get the hard-earned pension pots they are due, we take robust action where necessary to make sure employers meet their automatic enrolment duties.”
Experts say smaller companies are the most affected by these issues. Steve Webb, a former minister and current partner at consultants LCP, commented: “Whilst automatic enrolment has been a huge success with over 10 million more workers now saving into a pension, there is no doubt that there are thousands of cases when employers fail to comply with their legal duties.”
Alice Haine from Bestinvest emphasized that discovering an employer’s failure to pay pension contributions will naturally be frustrating and worrying for employees. It not only damages trust in the employer but also raises concerns about the effect the missing payments will have on pension savings.
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, added that issues can arise due to administrative errors, technical glitches, negligence, or fraud. Employees are encouraged to review their pension statements regularly and raise any concerns with their employers or appropriate regulatory bodies if discrepancies are found. Since auto-enrolment started in 2012, TPR has recovered more than £700 million in missing contributions and issued over 250,000 fixed penalty notices for non-compliance.
