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Annual Report of the Ombudsman 2008 (text version)

6.2.6 Selected Cases - Decision to halve State pension (contributory) revised - arrears of €39,538 paid

A man approached my Office, as his pension was decreased when his wife received a State pension (contributory) - (SPC) in her own right. He had been receiving a personal half-rate SPC plus a qualified adult (QA) increase for his wife. He wrote to the Pension Services Office (PSO) several times in the matter. However the matter was never clarified fully. When his wife qualified for a SPC in her own right, the QA payment on his pension was stopped and he received a personal half rate pension from then on.

The half rate SPC was awarded to the man based on his social insurance record from 1953 up to the time he reached 66 years of age.

This man had been self-employed and his insurance record showed self-employed contributions from 1989/90. Under social welfare legislation, a self-employed contributor can have his/her entitlement to a SPC determined from 6 April 1988 (the date on which compulsory insurance was introduced for people who are self-employed), up to the year prior to their retirement. They must, however, have an average of 48 or more contributions paid per year.

From correspondence he had sent into my Office it was evident that my complainant had an outstanding self-employed social insurance liability for the 1988/89 contribution year. In his correspondence with the department, the man asked if it would still be open for him to pay the outstanding liability. In its reply the PSO never stated whether it would or would not be open to him to pay this liability.

This Office wrote to both the self-employed section of the department in Waterford and the PSO in Sligo on the matter. It was found that it would be still open for him to pay the outstanding liability and if paid, his pension entitlement would be re-examined.

The man paid off his outstanding liability. Once the PSO re-examined his entitlement it was found that he was entitled to a maximum rate SPC of €223.30 per week and arrears amounting to €39,538.01.

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