Dear Editor,
Please allow me to respond to the letter bearing the caption ‘Forty years of contributions but still no NIS pension’ (SN, October 29).
Please be advised that National Insurance is in receipt of a claim from the insured person, NIS# B-0918367, who attained age sixty (60) on August 29 of this year. It should be noted that a pension was awarded and payment will be available by Thursday, November 12, 2009.

The pensioner can make contact with the New Amsterdam Local Office or the Public Relations Unit on 227-6851 or 227-3461.
Reference to the statement “Money is not there to pay pensioners,” I wish to assure the writer that this is not the case. Additionally, the purpose of Social Security is never to deny anyone a benefit, but acts as a mean of economic relief when one’s ability to earn is interrupted by sickness, accident, old age, death of a breadwinner, etc.

As such, it is always our intention as a social security scheme to pay contributors whatever they are entitled to.  There are times when this process may be delayed, but the contributors always benefit in the end.
Yours faithfully,
Dianne Lewis Baxter
Publicity & Public
Relations Officer
National Insurance
Scheme