Dear Editor,
I must say that personally I have very few grouses in relation to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS); I have had my benefits paid and when my pension became due it was paid pronto with refunds of all overpayments.
My issue though is the fact that I believe I am being short-changed by an inefficient system when payments made by me personally to the National Insurance at Bent and Camp Streets, are said to be missing.
I can’t recall the years that are not in my contribution record, but they amount to about three years or thereabouts. I have checked with the same Bent Street Office several times and I was told that the system is being upgraded and I should wait.
I have been a pensioner now for nearly eight years and still I have heard nothing.
I did check with my last place of employment and was told that the records for that period might have been discarded since records are kept for a period of time only.
In addition, owing to the fact that all the offices around Georgetown, East Coast, East Bank and West Dem have been merged, this might account for the disappearance of several records.
There is also the fact that at least one of the other companies I was employed with is now defunct.
I do not wish to be taken in the wrong way since my intentions are not to sully the great work National Insurance is doing for the workers of this nation, but since nothing in this world is perfect then the need to ensure that workers at the end of their working life do not suffer any loss whatsoever, there is need to fine tune the contribution records to ensure that every person is paid their due.
I wish I could hear that a recheck had been done and all updated records would be mailed to the pensioners or that they were called in to uplift same.
This would make NIS more respected and valued by the workers and there would be renewed confidence in the record-keeping process.
I should like to thank the management and staff of this great entity for the work they have been doing, and to keep it up.
Yours faithfully,
Ivan John
