Couple fear losing home over mix-up with pension
A RETIRED builder yesterday told how he might have to sell his beloved home because of an ongoing “terrible pensions injustice”.
Barry Pettett, 69, collected national insurance stamps for decades but when he submitted them, HMRC officials would not accept some because they were not in a book.
As a result he only gets £70 a week state pension – half the amount he would have received if all his stamps had been accepted, he said.
The father-of-two and wife Beryl, 67, fear they may now have to sell their house to make ends meet. and naive about tax and national insurance, I decided to pay an accountant to do this for me.
“Even though money was tight sometimes, I always made sure taxes etc were all paid.
“In the 1970s NI stamps had to be purchased from the post office which I did. But again, young and naive I thought as long as I purchased the stamps I would be OK.”
However he was horrified discover this was not the case.
“I sent them to HMRC a few years ago to see what pension I would be entitled to,” Mr Pettett said.
“Then I received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions to say my pension would only be £70 a week because full stamps have not been paid.
“They agreed that I had purchased the stamps – because I sent them to HMRC. But because they were not stuck on the card which should have been provided they would not count towards my pension.
“I applied for pension credit but because we were just over the limit of savings, we were not entitled to it.”
He also told how officials had repeatedly written to the wrong address not allowing him a chance to appeal. As a result, the to Barry and Beryl Pettett outside their home in West Sussex couple could be forced to sell their four-bedroom detached home in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.
A spokesman for the DWP said Mr Pettett’s pension was paid on the basis of the number of stamp contributions made aware to them by the HMRC.
A spokesman for HMRC said that because legislation allowing stamps to be collected on their own as NI contributions was abolished in 1993, they were not able to accept some of Mr Pettett’s without the book. Barry and Beryl, on their wedding day, left, and at a recent celebration, face having to sell their home