Dear Editor,
I write on behalf of a fellow villager, who has worked from 1997 to 2014 at a State institution but is now being denied a National Insurance Scheme (NIS) pension because a revised contribution statement shows her having a shortfall of two contributions or the equivalent of $1,000 dollars in earnings (contribution statements attached).
Editor, three years prior to her 60th birthday, this woman obtained a contribution statement showing her having 752 contributions, checked and verified by NIS officials; thus making her qualified for an NIS pension – the qualifying contribution number being 750.
However, six months before her 60th birthday, she obtained another contribution statement showing her having 748 contributions, a shortfall of two contributions and a difference of $976 in earnings; again checked and verified by NIS officials.
The NIS offered this lady a lump sum of just over $100,000 and suggested that she accept it and pursue the issue of the pension with the NIS board but she has refused to do so.
I am trusting that this letter would catch the attention of person(s) out there who could help this woman get what is justly hers.
Yours faithfully,
Patrick Hamilton
