Records for years of NIS payments go missing

THE EDITOR: Back in the 1970s my father-in-law and my wife owned and operated a garment factory and I recall helping them adhere stickers to the National Insurance cards for themselves and their workers.

When my wife attained retirement age she applied for her pension and, to our surprise, the National Insurance Board (NIB) could not find records of her contributions. As a result, she only receives a partial pension.

I thought this must be an isolated case, until recently when I was made aware of the fact that this is a common situation.

Within the past few years, I have had three workers attain retirement age and apply for National Insurance Scheme (NIS) pension. In each case, several years' records were missing and I was asked to provide proof of payments.

This has been going on for several years now and because of the failure on the part of NIB workers, pensioners are being put through the wringer.

RICHARD DEANE

Diego Martin