"There will be big scandals ahead, that's for sure, assuming we can hold people accountable before they and the company vanish completely.""They try to claim not to know us," I responded. "This may be a sign that they know they could be liable," I was told by this person (whose identity and role we prefer to keep private). "Do they have record of any of the employees at all?"
He kept on asking crucial questions: "Is there even one employee who has ever received correspondence direct from Standard Life in the past, either by email or by post?"
Standard Life and the IFA were in cahoots, and we have official papers to prove it. We shared some of these before.
"Standard Life and the IFA were in cahoots, and we have official papers to prove it.""If you can get evidence that they knew of even one employee then that might be sufficient for all of you to launch a class action together against Standard Life," the person noted. The pension fraud of Sirius would not have been possible without 'outside help'...
There are several steps ahead of us now, "but the stronger the proof against them," the person argued, "the harder it is for them to make excuses and the more serious their sentences / director bans."
"This is useful too, especially if they owe you expenses or salary."
The company owed me money, aside from the money stolen for over 5 years (stolen from colleagues too). To quote the British government: "Anyone who’s owed money (the ‘creditor’) can make a statutory demand. You do not need a lawyer."
"Either way, this saga is far from over. We're only warming up."Before that, however, we have 3 more escalation points to explore if not exhaust. This can take several more months. Setting the record straight is very important.
"There have been some cases where the courts looked beyond the company and seized personal assets of the directors," the person said, citing this case. There are some caveats however. To quote the person:
You would need to get legal advice and probably have some evidence along these lines:
- who was the director at the time you started employment? They should have enrolled you in the pension
- any other directors since then
- assets of each director (house, shares, 2nd homes, cars, etc) - if they really have no assets then it may not be worth your time.
- evidence of criminal acts / decisions / gross negligence leading to the current problem. E.g. did they ever actively send you emails referring to the promised pension? Do you have records of discussing the pension during the hiring process? Same for all the other employees you are in contact with.
If the director is also the owner of the company then their share of the company is an asset and in the event that this person faces personal bankruptcy, you could ask to take the company from the liquidator.
You need to remember that the purpose of limited companies is to shield director and shareholder's assets in the case of mistakes and accidents.
If you are going to challenge that principle then you really need to have convincing evidence that they knew they were doing something wrong.