A former Nottingham call centre director is banned from running a company for the next eight years due to pension scheme negligence.
Philip James Hopkinson, 47, was leading Target Source Media at the Landmark Tudor Square which initially operated as a call centre from November 2011, focused on buying and selling data, reports Business Live.
He then transferred that administration of the occupational pension scheme to a third party less than a year later.
Over the next five months, members of the public transferred over £200,000 into the pension scheme which remained unregistered, in breach of the Pensions Act 2004.
The Government said Hopkinson subsequently admitted he never met or spoke with those he appointed nor verified their ability or experience to administer a pension scheme to ensure potential members' funds were invested correctly and that the risk to members would be minimised.
In June 2017, Hopkinson resigned as a director of Target Source Media but remained as an employee for a further two to three months and helped authorise the transfer of members' funds out of the pension scheme bank account.
In addition, at the time of the winding-up of Target Source Media in 2018, the company had separate debts of over £65,000, according to a statement from The Insolvency Service.
Following its investigation, Hopkinson signed an eight-year disqualification undertaking which began in June.
Neil North, chief investigator of the Insolvency Service, said: "Mr Hopkinson breached the duties placed on him as a director of a limited company and, as a result, members of the public have been unnecessarily put at risk and have potentially lost funds from their occupational pensions.
"In such cases, the Insolvency Service will not hesitate to take action to remove the privilege of limited liability status from such individuals."
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