Worldline SA subsidiary Payone are embroiled in a dispute over pension payments of a former UK employee. The employee who does not wish to be named had pension payments deducted from his salary although Payone did not actually place those deductions into any pension pot between 2016 and 2021 when he was employed.
One year after leaving Payone the employee discovered that the firm did not place those funds in a government backed pension scheme. So where did the money go?! Why did Payone mislead the employee into believing the money was being placed in a pension scheme?
Payone’s breach of the UK Pension regulation
Since 2012 when an employee meets certain requirements the law states that the employer must automatically enrol them as a member of a workplace pension scheme.
This scheme means that a lot more employees can stack some savings to provide them with an income from age 55. The Payslip is a tangible and sacrosanct document which demonstrates the trust and contractual bond between an employee and employer. Payroll departments are often the most bustling departments on or around payday when employees and employers alike seek clarifications in case of any discrepancies on the Payslip. The enquiries could range from tax code errors or even incorrect basic wages which are usually clarified quickly if necessary. Speed is essential in most cases simply because those Direct Debit bills spare no one.
It was indeed Albert Einstein who said:
“The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax”
So, Payone had wrongly added the words “Pension contributions: £xxxx” to employees’ payslips. However, for over four years the company were stacking the employees’ pension contributions into their own pocket and did not register the employee into a government backed pension scheme. There were a plethora of pension schemes that UK employees could have been placed into and it is a wonder as to why for an extraordinary period of time they failed to do so. Even their basic duty to inform the employee about his rights under the scheme was shunned.
After leaving the company in March 2021, the employee raised unrelated complaints with the company. It appears those complaints may have triggered alarm bells at the company about the pension issues. Payone hurriedly in January 2022 [10 months after employee left], opened a pension scheme with the Workers Pension Trust. In order to set up a backdated account Payone would have needed to inform the Workers Pension Trust that the employee was still employed there; which was inaccurate. At that point a whisper in the ear of the HR staff to remind them that, “you are a financial services company, integrity is a cornerstone of what you do, time to tell the employee what’s going on guys”, may not have been a terrible idea.
After the account was opened and a lumpsum figure was dashed [transferred] into the employees’ pension fund the account was then closed only 30 days afterwards. The employee was never contacted, and it appears Payone were hoping to quietly [shhh] “shut the barn door” on the matter. In a bid to keep the employee from becoming aware of the issue, Payone even provided the employees’ old address to the Workers Pension Trust. This avoided them contacting the employee to confirm his new address, which would have been a silly thing to do as it may have alerted him to the issue. One must ask the question at that stage, what on earth could possibly go wrong?!
A popular quote [Francois De La Rochefoucauld] is timely, which states:
“Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them”
Also:
“Truth fears nothing but concealment” [Tertullian]
Consequently, private, and confidential letters and login processes were inevitably in turn sent to the incorrect address (surprise!). But for the employees vigilance, he may never have discovered the issue that will now impact his tax free allowance, pension and tax even leading to questions as to if the lumpsum was even correct. The employee has acted swiftly and despite an uncooperative Payone [yes, they refuse to help!!], the Workers Pension Trust have provided the employee with a glimmer of hope so that he is aware of the employer’s procedural failings. The Pension Ombudsman is further attempting to support the employee and maybe even draw some detailed answers from Payone.
Top tips for employers
Employees rank highly and are valuable assets
Integrity and transparency in dealing with your employees are exceptional qualities for an employer to possess. Do not underestimate the bond that can be built with your staff just by owning mistakes or communicating any underhand conduct of previous employees as a corrective bridge for the future. To be silent is to be complicit.
Record-keeping
Ensure that employees data is kept accurately even if that employee is no longer part of the company. People move addresses and it will cause significant distress to former employees if payroll or pension data is misplaced due to carelessness of a former employer. Not to mention it opens you to UK GDPR complications.
Lean on the regulators
Fortunately, there are a host of regulators who provide information on the law in bite size and easily digestible chunks. Spending 30 minutes a week of quality time over a coffee on the respective websites will do no harm whatsoever. If in doubt just reach out! In this case, Payone GmbH could proactively have contacted the Pension Regulator or the Information Commissioner’s Office upon discovering any issues. Instead, they opted for a covert route, which points towards a symptom of a much larger problem at the Worldline SA owned company.
In all fairness hindsight is a luxury, but not if the problematic processes are given free reign to a revolving door.
Pay employee salaries on time and adhere to local rules if new market entrant
It appears that amongst the catalogue of issues with the employee’s payroll, Payone did not always pay the employee on consistent dates. According to the Advisory, Conciliation And Arbitration Service (ACAS) it is not allowed for employers to delay or not send payslips to their staff, so ensuring that payslips arrive in a timely manner may prevent complaints and grievances.
Communication
Given the learnings that may graciously be heeded within this article seems apt to quote the following;
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”. [George Bernard Shaw]
The employee shared his opinion on the issues, and told Loopline media:
“ the Workers Pension Trust have been marvellous with the limited support they can provide… there were inherent problems I faced at Payone right across the board from payroll, inconsistent pay dates to AML disagreements with the way contracts are processed relating to KYC. It has been a huge relief for my mental health to part from the company and I only hope things have improved and communication from the top down becomes transparent and that the company embraces a diverse senior leadership and can share best practices from the Worldline payroll processes. I feel the company is full of talented and good employees but there is a discombobulated structure which led to the toying with legislation as occurred with my pension scenario.” [Payone Employee]
The Director of Human Resources and the Director of Data Protection at Payone responded to the employee’s concerns in June 2022 to confirm the lumpsum amount, and to wholeheartedly blame the pension issue on previous HR employees. The employee has received no apology from Payone at the date of this article.
The Information Commissioner’s Office reprimanded Payone GmbH on 1 September 2022 when they wrote to the Employee to state:
“In light of this, I am of the view that Payone could have taken further steps to verify your current address. As Payone have explained, upon realising that the address you provided within your correspondence differed to the one they held on their systems, they could have taken further steps to confirm your correct address and update this on their systems.
This would have prevented a former, inaccurate address being provided to the Workers Pension Trust.
However, I note that your address has now been updated on their systems. We have written to Payone and explained that they should take ensure all personal data held is accurate and, where necessary, up to date.”
To provide balance, Loopline media has reached out to the lawyers of Payone GmbH, who declined to comment at the date this article has been published. The article may be edited in future only to add any response from the lawyers of Payone GmbH.
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