I had what I thought would be a straightforward issue but apparently it's a gaping crack in regulation.
Previous employer never enrolled me in a workplace pension despite me chasing multiple times.
They also did some other dodgy things with money. I opened an acas tribunal. Acas said they could handle unlawfully withheld wages but not the pension issue - that had to go to the pensions ombudsman.
I reported to the pensions regulator but I will not hear back.
I opened a case with the pensions ombudsman. I was told even if the company liquidated there would still be some pension recoupable by me. The wait is 11 months for an assigned individual so I phoned up pensions ombudsman again today to check there wasn't anything else I needed to do if the company liquidates. Person I spoke to said I was misinformed and if the company closes before the 11 month wait then there's nothing they can do - there's no company to chase. They told me to open up an acas tribunal.
I'm being bounced around between services for something as simple as an employer not enrolling employees into a workplace pension. The ombudsman rep actually said "this doesn't really happen very often at all - most people running companies are good and try to do the right thing". This really leaves me wondering what the point is in an ombudsman at all.
AIBU to be in complete disbelief the service is so unhelpful?