First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber)

Neutral citation number: [2025] UKFTT 358 (GRC)

Case reference:    FT/PEN/2024/0273

First-tier Tribunal

General Regulatory Chamber

Pensions Regulation

Heard by Cloud Video Platform

Heard on: 25 March 2025

Decision given on:27 March 2025

Before

 

Judge SOPHIE BUckley

 

Between

 

HOLLINGDALE PLUMBING AND HEATING LTD

Appellant

and

 

The PENSIONS REGULATOR

Respondent

Representation:

For the Appellant: Did not attend

For the Respondent: Mrs Davis

 

Decision:

The reference is dismissed and the matter is remitted to the Regulator.  The Fixed Penalty Notice is confirmed.

 

REASONS

 

Background

 

 

 

1.      Hollingdale Plumbing and Heating Ltd ("the Employer") challenges a fixed penalty notice ("the Fixed Penalty Notice") issued by the Pensions Regulator ("the Regulator") on 4 July 2024 (Notice number 104549716702).

 

2.      The Fixed Penalty Notice was issued under s 40 of the Pensions Act 2008. It required the Employer to pay a penalty for failing to comply with the requirements of a Compliance Notice dated 9 May 2024.

3.      The Regulator completed a review of the decision to impose the penalty notices and informed the Employer on 19 July 2024 that the Fixed Penalty Notice was confirmed. The Employer referred the matter to the Tribunal on 19 July 2024.

 

4.      The Employer did not attend the hearing. The clerk emailed the Employer before the hearing and attempted to telephone the Employer his morning but there was no reply. The hearing did not commence until 10.10am in case the Employer was simply late joining the hearing. The Employer did not attend the case management hearing. In section 9 of the appeal form the Employer ticked both the box to indicate that they wanted the appeal to be decided with a hearing and the box to indicate that they wanted the appeal to be decided without a hearing.

 

5.      It is apparent from the documents in the bundle that the Employer had been notified of the hearing. I decided that it was in the interests of justice to proceed with the hearing in the absence of the Employer.

 

6.      The Regulator made no additional submissions and therefore I have determined the matter on the basis of the documents in the bundle.

 

The Law

 

7.      The Pensions Act 2008 imposed a number of legal obligations on employers in relation to the automatic enrolment of certain 'jobholders' into occupational or workplace personal pension schemes. The Pensions Regulator has statutory responsibility for securing compliance with these obligations and may exercise certain enforcement powers.

 

8.      Each employer is assigned a 'staging date' from which the timetable for performance of their obligations is set. The Employer's Duties (Registration and Compliance) Regulations 2010 specify that an employer must provide certain specified information to the Regulator within five months of their staging date. This is known as a 'Declaration of Compliance'. An employer is required to make a re-declaration of compliance every three years. Where this is not provided, the Regulator can issue a Compliance Notice and then a Fixed Penalty Notice for failure to comply with the Compliance Notice. The prescribed Fixed Penalty is £400.

 

9.      Under section 44 of the 2008 Act, a person who has been issued with a Fixed Penalty Notice may make a reference to the Tribunal provided that a review has been carried out or an application for review has been made to the Regulator. The role of the Tribunal is to make its own decision on the appropriate action for the Regulator to take, considering the evidence before it.

 

10.  The Tribunal may confirm, vary or revoke a penalty notice and when it reaches a decision, must remit the matter to the Regulator with such directions (if any) required to give effect to its decision.

 

Evidence

 

11.  I read and took account of a bundle of documents.

 

The facts

 

12.  The Employer's second re-declaration of compliance was not completed by the deadline of 30 April 2024, so the Regulator issued a Compliance Notice on 9 May 2024 with a deadline of 19 June 2024. As this was not complied with, a Fixed Penalty Notice was issued on 4 July 2024 requiring the Employer to pay a penalty of £400. The Fixed Penalty Notice required the Employer to comply with the Compliance Notice by 1 August 2024.

 

13.  The re-declaration of compliance was completed on 11 June 2024.  

 

14.   On 15 July 2024 the Employer requested a review of the Fixed Penalty Notice. The Regulator conducted a review of and the penalty was confirmed on 19 July 2024.

 

15.  On 19 July 2024 the Employer referred the matter to the Tribunal.

 

Submissions

 

16.  The Notice of Appeal relies on the following grounds:

 

(i)                 The reminder to file the re-declaration was not received and the Employer only received the penalty letter dated 4 July 2024 which was received on 14 July 2024.

 

17.  The Regulator's response submits that the Notices were sent to the registered office address and there is no basis for displacing the statutory presumption of service of the Compliance Notice. The Fixed Penalty Notice was received at the same address and the Employer has not raised any plausible submissions that the Compliance Notice was received. The Regulator submits that the appeal grounds do not amount to a reasonable excuse.

 

Conclusions

 

18.  The timely provision of information to the Regulator, so it can ascertain whether an employer has complied with its duties under the 2008 Act, is crucial to the effective operation of the automatic enrolment scheme: unless the Regulator is provided with this information, it cannot effectively secure the compliance of employers with their duties. It is for this reason that the provision of a re-declaration of compliance within a specified timeframe is a mandatory requirement. Even though the Employer has now complied with this duty, this does not excuse a failure to comply.

 

19.  I find that issuing the Fixed Penalty Notice was appropriate, unless there was a reasonable excuse for the Employer's failure to comply with the requirements of the Compliance Notice.

 

20.  All letters and notices were sent to the Employer's current registered address. No evidence or explanation has been provided for why the Compliance Notice might not have been received and, taking into account the statutory presumption of service I find that the Compliance Notice was received at the Employer's registered office address.

 

21.  The Employer should have been aware of its obligations in any event. The declaration of compliance had been completed, and the Employer ought to have known when the re-declaration was due.

 

22.  I conclude that the Employer did not have a reasonable excuse for failing to comply.

 

23.  For the above reasons I am satisfied that the Employer has not provided a reasonable excuse for not complying with the Compliance Notice. I determine that issuing the Fixed Penalty Notice was the appropriate action to take in this case. I remit the matter to the Regulator and confirm the Fixed Penalty Notice. No directions are necessary.

 

Signed                                                                                                            Date:

Sophie Buckley                                                                                             25 March 2025