Employer behind on my pension payments - could they close business and write them off

[PensionPanic123]

Posting for traffic....

Been working for my employer for a couple of years. Small and fairly new (just before I joined) subsidiary of a medium sized and very profitable construction business.

Management are all Sikhs and very pleasant and charitable people. They pay me well and I love the contract I'm on. However, there have been a few red flags previously like them having to pay us several days late due to waiting for client to pay (they keep finances separate from other side of company). It's happened 2-3 times in last 18 months but once was a whole week late.

Also sometimes have to chase for expenses (can be several hundred pounds) and sometimes don't get them till next fortnightly pay cycle.

I put up with it as I work eight mins from my house, love the work, and am paid well. I know it wouldn't fly in a big company but overall its been much more positive than negative.

However, had a message from pension provider several months back saying pension was either not paid or underpaid in January but I didn't have to do anything as they would notify the appropriate authorities. My boss was away so didn't speak to him and it seemed it was then resolved.

However, I've now had another message about a more recent month. My boss told me the other day that they sometimes have to top up my wages as the contract I'm working on isn't always profitable (for reasons outside of my control which I won't go into as complex). However, with HS2 work incoming it could massively change.

My concern is that if things don't improve they might just close that company and write off all debts. Could they do that with my pension contributions too?

They've already closed the company I worked for previously and set up in a different name due to issues caused by a previous director who resulted in us being investigated by traffic commissioner. They said it was to erase the negative history but I now wonder if it was to write off debts. As an Indian business there are many relatives involved so they can just presumably open a new company with different people as directors.

Sorry for the long post.

No. Pensions are protected. Even if worse case scenario they go insolvent tomorrow all your pay, notice period, and pensions would eventually be paid.

No. They cannot write off pension contributions.

What they are doing now is actually illegal.

You are correct to be concermed about their behavior.

OK, thanks for the reply. That's somewhat alleviated my concerns. I'm not worried about losing my job as I'm in a high demand role (truck driver) and get offered jobs almost weekly - two offers last week from other hauliers who I regularly see onsite. I could get another £52k job within a week if it came to it. It's just the pension bit that was worrying me.

Issue currently is that most of our money comes from radial mile payments and waiting time (£10 per minute after 30 mins, which big companies happily pay).

Right now, I'm being sent to jobs a mile from base where I'm onsite for up to two hours as they keep stopping to measure or sending me all around site filling small holes rather than one big foundation pour. Once I've indicated on the system that the pour has started no waiting time is paid thereafter, even if I'm onsite two hours.

Typically we do 5-6 jobs a day but I've recently been doing up to nine. However, nine jobs at one radial mile is less profitable than one job at 15 radial miles. Ideally, we want jobs where we can offload and be gone within 20 mins rather than two hours sat there making no money.

Boss is currently hashing this out with the customer but it will likely either make or break the contract with little in between.

Obviously this is not good and I'm sure as PP said pensions are protected.

Interested as to why you mentioned they are Sikhs?

I don't think it's that they're Sikh that's relevant, it's because there is a "family business" aspect that the OP is not part of. It would be easier with such a business to shutter the company and lay everyone off, then start a new one with family members carrying over.

I think she's mentioned that they're Sikh because they're very generous people, generally

It sounds like their charging structure needs to change, doesn't it?

Yes, to this and the post above. My point is that they're generally ethical people so I'm inclined to think they're not trying to take the piss - e.g. about to shut down and not pay us. And also that they can open another business in a family name if needed.

I often wonder if they're more blasé about this stuff because they're usually dealing with family members/close friends. It's like me telling my sister I'll pay her back a few days late. I'm the only person affected that's not a Sikh and the rest have all known each other for years.