Sure Services Group Limited v The Pensions Regulator
[2024] UKFTT 134 (GRC)
Monika Palka Hospitality Limited v The Pensions Regulator
19 September 2023
[2023] UKFTT 767 (GRC)
First-tier Tribunal
A company was fined for missing a deadline to file paperwork about pensions. They said they didn't get the reminder, but the judge said they should have and dismissed their appeal. The company had to pay the fine.
Key Facts
- •Monika Palka Hospitality Limited (Appellant) appealed a £400 fixed penalty notice from The Pensions Regulator (Respondent) for failing to comply with a compliance notice.
- •The compliance notice, sent to the Appellant's registered office on February 17, 2023, concerned a missed re-declaration of compliance deadline (January 31, 2023).
- •The Appellant claimed non-receipt of the compliance notice, citing the director's illness and absence.
- •The Regulator confirmed sending reminder letters in May and November 2022 and the fixed penalty notice on April 18, 2023, all to the registered office.
- •The Appellant submitted the re-declaration on April 19, 2023, after receiving the penalty notice.
Legal Principles
The Pensions Act 2008 imposes automatic enrolment duties on employers.
Pensions Act 2008
The Regulator can issue compliance and fixed penalty notices for non-compliance.
Pensions Act 2008
Notices are presumed received if sent to the proper address (registered office for companies).
Pensions Act 2004, section 303; Employers' Duties (Registration and Compliance) Regulations 2010, Regulation 15(4)
Appeals against penalty notices can be made to the Tribunal, considering 'reasonable excuse'.
Pensions Act 2008, section 44; Pensions Regulator v Strathmore Medical Practice [2018] UKUT 104 (AAC)
The Tribunal makes its own decision on the evidence, even if the Regulator's original decision was reasonable.
In the Matter of the Bonas Group Pension Scheme [2011] UKUT B 33 (TCC)
A mere assertion of non-receipt is insufficient to overturn the statutory presumption of service.
London Borough of Southwark v (1) Runa Akhter & (2) Stel LLC [2017] UKUT 0150
Outcomes
Appeal dismissed.
The Tribunal found the compliance notice was properly served, the Appellant failed to demonstrate a reasonable excuse for non-compliance, and the statutory presumption of service was not rebutted.