On the go: Seven members of senior management at recruitment company Workchain have pleaded guilty to gaining unauthorised access to computer data in order to opt the agency’s temporary workers out of its pension scheme.
Appearing at Derby Magistrates’ Court on June 7, the defendants admitted devising a plan where five members of staff posed as the temporary employees, opting them out of Nest’s online system.
The mastertrust first reported its concerns over Workchain to the Pensions Regulator in May 2014.
A joint investigation between the regulator, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, Derbyshire Constabulary and Nottinghamshire Constabulary was subsequently launched.
It was discovered that owners and directors Phil Tong and Adam Hinkley encouraged financial controller Hannah Armson, human resources and compliance officer Lisa Neal and branch managers Martin West, Robert Tomlinson and Andrew Thorpe to remove the company’s temporary staff from its scheme.
The defendants pleaded guilty to section 1(1) of the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The offence carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and/or an unlimited fine in a magistrates’ court.
Should the case be handed to the Crown Court, offenders face two years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.
It is the first time that the regulator has prosecuted individuals for this offence. They will be sentenced at Derby Crown Court on June 28 2018.
