Employer is deducting pension contributions but not paying them into pension fund

[ReallygoodyesImfine]

My employer has been deducting pension contributions from staff salaries but not passing them to our pension fund. We can see the deductions on our payslips, so they have taken our contributions but kept it, and also have not paid their contributions. I've raised this multiple times but I keep getting responses that make little sense, or promise the payments are to be resolved.

They have been reported to The Pensions Regulator, but the action from them seems vague - once filed, there are no further updates, and we can't chase for more info. The insurance company say they are doing all they can, but again, there are no clear updates.

It's now more apparent that the company has debts everywhere, and I fear insolvency.

What steps can we actually take next? Are our pension payments protected by The Pensions Regulator if they go under?

Any insights would be welcomed - it's very worrying.

Because the police won’t understand the issue, and are not the regulating body, TPR have the powers to prosecute and will if they have to, TPR have the power to force the funds to be paid to the pension pots, the police do not.

Revoke them being able to take pension contributions and tell everyone else to immediately do the same, they are either using it to keep afloat or pocketing the money. Go to your MP. And start looking for a new job asap.

Police have the power to prosecute for theft and embezzlement. 2 years’ worth of pension payments for 100 people is a huge amount of money and if the company is now in financial difficulties then clearly they do not have it any more. TPR is not going to be able to force them to pay money they don’t have, so worth investigating where it has gone.

But TPR has the powers to investigate and prosecute, both criminally and civil. Going to the police with this is a waste of time.
TPR have a history of extraditing, fining, and jailing people in respect of pensions fraud etc. They can do everything and more that the police can, essentially they’re the pensions police.
Ultimately, what matters for OP is they get their money back, the police won’t make that happen.

The amounts in question are high in a way but probably not high enough for this to be a police matter. The Pensions Regulator has an array of powers that make it much better placed to investigate and take action if it were so minded.

The reality is, though, that even 2 years of contributions for 100 staff may not be a high enough amount for this to be a priority to TPR (assuming auto-enrolment min contributions and average pay of, say, £30-40k). We're potentially talking "only" mid-6-figures rather than Maxwell-style fraud here (which is not to dismiss the impact on the individuals affected )

I worked for a company that didn’t make our NI / tax payments. They became insolvent and went under owing loads in VAT / tax. I’d of been due a tax rebate as it took a while to find a new job ( was also a student) but got nothing as they hadn’t received the payment. I think it’s one of those times where you get screwed over but I hope it goes better for you OP.