Unpaid contributions – The case study of Ms N

On joining her new employer and then being automatically enrolled into a pension plan, Ms N realised her former employer should have done the same. When she queried this with them, they asserted she had opted not to join. Ms N was adamant this was not the case. As she was not satisfied with her former employer’s response, she contacted us. 

We contacted Ms N’s former employer. We asked if they could give us evidence they had written to Ms N to explain automatic enrolment; taken the necessary steps to enrol her; and had evidence that she had opted-out. 

We subsequently discussed Ms N’s complaint with her former employer and they agreed, that in error, she had not been correctly enrolled in their scheme. They undertook to calculate the employer and employee contributions that were due and agreed they should pay their share to Ms N’s pension fund. We asked if they would also consider the growth Ms N may have lost out on because of the late payment of the contributions. Because Ms N had not been enrolled when she should have been, this was not straightforward. However, after talking to both Ms N and her former employer, it was agreed to use the fund performance achieved by the plan’s default fund from the point contributions should first have been paid. 

Ms N’s former employer subsequently made a payment, covering both their outstanding contributions and the missed growth, to Ms N’s pension fund. Ms N arranged the payment of the contributions she should have paid. Both parties agreed the matter was now resolved.