2 November 2005

Michael Howard intervenes to help Folkstone Pensioner 

Michael Howard, Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe, has intervened in the case of Mrs Rosemary Wilson of Folkestone, Kent, to secure an increase she is eligible for in her state pension. Mrs Wilson, a retired civil servant, was one of the 470,000 people the Pension Service believe may be able to improve their basic state pension by filling gaps in their National Insurance contributions from April 1996. She wrote to Michael Howard in September 2005 expressing frustration at a delay in updating her pension provision.

Having been contacted by the Pension Service in February 2005, Mrs Wilson was able to confirm that she was eligible for such an increase, and agreed to pay the missing contributions required. However, after more than the 10 weeks the Pension Service had claimed it would take to process the completed form she supplied, Mrs Wilson had heard nothing back from them. Following further enquiries, including a letter to the Chief Executive of the Pension Service, Alexis Cleveland, she eventually received a reply from a member of staff there, in July, informing her that her state pension would be increased to £72.20 per week. However, by the time she wrote to Mr Howard in September, the Pension Service had not managed to take the payment of missing contributions in the manner she requested, or increase her weekly pension in turn.

Mr Howard then wrote to the Chief Executive asking for a ‘definitive reply’ on the matter. Within a fortnight, Mrs Wilson was happy to confirm that she was receiving arrears of payment into her bank account. Mr Howard also received a personal reply from Alexis Cleveland, admitting that Mrs Wilson had not ‘received the standard of services customers should expect from the Pension Service’. While apologising for the delays in dealing with Mrs Wilson’s application, she confirmed that ‘it was not until your letter that we finalised our action’. Staff at the Pension Service ‘have been reminded of the need to provide a much better service’ to all their customers in the future.

Mr Howard added: ‘I was pleased to be able to help Mrs Wilson resolve this problem with the Pension Service. It is unacceptable that she faced a period of over six months of frustration and uncertainty over her basic pension provision. I am happy that she is now receiving her full entitlement’.