asked the Minister for Social Welfare the reason a person (details supplied) in County Galway has received three different replies from her Department in connection with her claim for an old age contributory pension, telling her firstly, that she was not entitled to an old age pension following this with a letter and a hand written apology stating that she was entitled to her pension, and finally a letter on 31 January stating that she did not fulfil the conditions, and, therefore, would not be awarded a pension; if she feels that there is any justification for the conflicting information from her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
25.
In order to qualify for an old age contributory pension under the Social Welfare Acts a claimant must: (i) have entered into insurance before reaching a prescribed age; (ii) have contributions paid in respect of at least 156 weeks of insurable employment and (iii) have a yearly average of at least 20 contributions, paid or credited, over the period from the beginning of the 1953-54 contribution year or from her year of entry into insurance, whichever is the later, to the end of the last complete contribution year before she reaches pension age.
The person concerned claimed an old age contributory pension in September 1985. At that time the Department's records showed that she had 120 paid contributions and 121 credited contributions, a total of 241 reckonable contributions in all, since her entry into insurance. Her claim was disallowed because she failed to satisfy both the condition requiring at least 156 paid contributions and the condition requiring a minimum average of 20 contributions. The total of 241 contributions was equal to an average of only 12 over the relevant period.
She was notified of the number of contributions shown on her record and of the fact that her claim was disallowed because the numbers of contributions failed to reach the statutory requirements. She replied stating that she felt that the record was incomplete and following a review additional credits were awarded. These additional credits enabled her to satisfy the minimum yearly average requirement but not the condition requiring her to have contributions paid in respect of at least 156 weeks of insurable employment. Unfortunately, at that point the deciding officer overlooked the later requirement and awarded the pension to her. The deciding officer also sent a notification of the award to her together with an apology for the previous non-award. The error was discovered, however, before a pension book was issued and the decision to award the pension was revoked. A letter of explanation regretting the error was then sent to her. A copy of the claimant's revised insurance record was also sent to her and she has been advised of her right to appeal. She has also been asked to supply details of her employments, together with the names and addresses of her employers, if she is not satisfied that the revised record is correct.
Her entitlement to a non-contributory old age pension was investigated in November 1985. She did not qualify for this pension, however, because her means exceeded the statutory limit. This limit is £48 a week at present for a person without dependants.
I wish to add my own expression of regret also to the error which occurred in this case as I fully appreciate the inconvenience and worry to the claimant. I can assure the Deputy, however, that such an error is extremely rare.