Time limits on pension claim

[e-honda]

It is looking likely that a company I once worked for had not been paying into the employee pension scheme they claimed they were.
I recently wrote to the pension provider and had it confirmed I was never enrolled on the scheme. I have previously written to them [the employer] asking for details of any other schemes and they could not provide me with any
It was now just over 6 years ago that I left this company, am I out of time to make any kind of claim?

Is there any kind of compensation scheme in place that covers this situation? Even if there is no time restrictions the company was small it hasn't been doing that well recently, the owner has left the country and there has been some sort of company restructure going on so it is now technically a different company with a slightly different name so I think my chances of claiming against them directly are small.

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

I am assuming that if you thought you had enrolled, that a portion of your salary was taken at source ?

If so, that sounds like fraud, your other points about restructuring, not doing very well and the owner abroad would suggest that this might require a criminal investigation or the tac office involved.

But I doubt you'll see any of your money - unless you sue, and even then.

[e-honda]

Yes I had a letter detailing the plan I was to be enrolled in, on my pay slips deductions were being taken and employer contributions made.
I never got an scheme paperwork and I wasn't too fussed about chasing it up as I thought pension schemes were as safe as you can get.

[trashbat]

Statute of limitations for fraud is 6 years. However:

"Fraud claims must be brought within 6 years. However, this is from the date on which the claimant discovered the fraud, or with reasonable diligence could have become aware of it."

If this is likely to be a significant sum, including allowances for reasonable growth, take some proper legal advice ASAP.

[trashbat]

Also: https://www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/making-compl...

This has a three year limit but again relates to when you became aware.

[e-honda]

Thanks that is really helpful

[The Leaper]

I am a volunteer complaints investigator at the office of The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO).

Regarding the period of 6 years time limit for making a complaint, the time starts from the date that you first became aware of the problem, not the date that the problem started, so you're OK to proceed with a complaint against your ex employer.

Regarding TPO's 3 year time limit to bring a complaint to his attention, once again the time starts from the date that you first became aware that there's a problem, so you're OK to ask TPO to investigate a complaint. Note, however, that TPO's office will NOT investigate a complaint until you have raised a formal complaint with your ex employer and had their response, so this is something you must do before you raise the matter with TPO's office. This is so as to ensure your ex employer is aware of the complaint and has had the opportunity to respond.

The website given above for TPO is correct.

As regards your own issues, it looks as if pension contributions have been deducted from your pay and that these, and the ex-employer's pension contributions, have not been paid to the pension plan/provider. Regretfully, this is not an unusual matter, and TPO has investigated (and continues to investigate) many complaints of this type. For these types of complaint TPO has made many formal determinations in the complainant's favour, and these determinations are published on TPO's website.

R.

[Countdown]

The Leaper said:

As regards your own issues, it looks as if pension contributions have been deducted from your pay and that these, and the ex-employer's pension contributions, have not been paid to the pension plan/provider. Regretfully, this is not an unusual matter, and TPO has investigated (and continues to investigate) many complaints of this type. For these types of complaint TPO has made many formal determinations in the complainant's favour, and these determinations are published on TPO's website.

R.

Out of interest how does the TPO enforce the determinations? Is there anything to stop a dodgy employer simply Phoenixing?

[The Leaper]

Countdown said:

Out of interest how does the TPO enforce the determinations? Is there anything to stop a dodgy employer simply Phoenixing?

TPO's determinations have the force of law. If a respondent fails to act on the legally enforceable determination (which is very rare because it is therefore an illegal act), the complainant can take the matter further through the Courts. And for completeness, if the respondent disagrees with TPO's determination (not quite so rare), the respondent must challenge the determination in the Courts too.

By the way, TPO is the only one of the several ombudsmen that has legal backing to determinations. Most people wrongly assume all ombudsmen have that backing.

R.

[Countdown]

The Leaper said:

TPO's determinations have the force of law. If a respondent fails to act on the legally enforceable determination (which is very rare because it is therefore an illegal act), the complainant can take the matter further through the Courts. And for completeness, if the respondent disagrees with TPO's determination (not quite so rare), the respondent must challenge the determination in the Courts too.

By the way, TPO is the only one of the several ombudsmen that has legal backing to determinations. Most people wrongly assume all ombudsmen have that backing.

R.

Thanks. i was thinking about it from a more practical point of view. Let's say I'm a dodgy employer who has not complied with your determination. Would TPO take me to Court? How often does that happen? What penalties does the Court apply?

It's a bit like County Court Judgements. It's all well and good for a claimant to receive a favourable judgement but that's only the start of the process. And even if they get a judgement it doesn't mean they are going to get financial recompense.

Apologies for the thread drift OP.

[e-honda]

I think it is fairly relevant as I will most likely find myself in that situation.
It's an IT company with little or nothing in terms of assets and probably not much cash in the bank either.

[The Leaper]

Countdown said:

Thanks. i was thinking about it from a more practical point of view. Let's say I'm a dodgy employer who has not complied with your determination. Would TPO take me to Court? How often does that happen? What penalties does the Court apply?

It's a bit like County Court Judgements. It's all well and good for a claimant to receive a favourable judgement but that's only the start of the process. And even if they get a judgement it doesn't mean they are going to get financial recompense.

Apologies for the thread drift OP.

As I said in my earlier post, if the respondent fails to act on a TPO determination it is up to the complainant not TPO to take the respondent to Court to get action. The Courts regard non compliance by a respondent to a TPO's prior determination as a serious failure of legal duty and so will act to enforce the determination.

By the way, recent TPO determinations for complaints relating to the non payment of deducted pension contributions typically require:

• the prompt payment by the employer of the contributions deducted from the employee's earnings plus similarly for the non paid employer contributions, usually to be paid within 28 days, to the pension provider;

• the employer to request the pension provider to calculate any loss of investment return created by the late payment of the aforementioned contributions, the cost of such calculation, if any, to be paid by the employer, and for the calculations to be done within 28 days;

• the employer to pay to the pensions provider any shortfall in investment return within 28 days of receipt of the calculations;

• the employer to pay £1000 to the employee for redress for non financial injustice, to be paid within 14 days.

The sum for redress etc has no bearing on the actual amount of unpaid contributions involved in the particular complaint.

R.

[Countdown]

Thanks