‘We have more pension for you’
Dear Claudienne,
I am seeking your assistance in the following matter.
I retired from teaching in April 2011. After a long wait for my pension I received a letter from the Accountant General’s Department in June 2012, stating the full amount of the pension which I should receive. The letter also stated that I would be paid an advance on pension and a monthly alimentary allowance. I was paid the advance (70 per cent of the pension) and I have been receiving the alimentary allowance since June 2012.
My concern is that I have been unable to get the rest of my pension. My husband is in the same situation. He retired the year before me (2010) and he is still awaiting the remainder of his pension.
We called the Accountant General’s office and were told they ‘have no more money’ for us and that our files were ‘closed’. I am confused. How can they state that they are paying an advance without information as to when the balance would be paid, and by whom?
I read in one of your responses that the remaining balance must be checked by the Auditor General. I am not sure this is so in my case, but even if that is so I have been waiting a whole year.
I taught for 41 years and I am very disappointed at the treatment being meted to me in my ‘golden years’.
The pension awards letter was dated June 05, 2012.
VB
Dear VB
In order to update you on the balance owed to you and your husband, we asked you by e-mail for more details.
However, we note that through information gleaned online from the Tell Claudienne column on Sunday May 26 you were empowered to call your husband, who was by then in Jamaica, and tell him to go to the Ministry of Finance.
We see that at the Ministry of Finance he was told that the Accountant General’s Office erred and that you both should have already received the remainder of your pensions . The ministry instructed your husband to go back to the Accountant General and we note that when he went there on Friday, May 31, they accepted responsibility for the non-payment and said that they would prepare cheques for the both of you within a few weeks.
Good luck.
Dear Claudienne
I worked with the Ministry of Health from 1974 to 2001, when I resigned. At the time of my resignation I was a chief public health inspector.
I reached the retirement age of 60 in July of last year and spent five months in Jamaica submitting all the relevant documents for a deferred pension. Despite numerous phone calls almost weekly and even a letter to the finance minister, I am told that my file is with the finance ministry’s auditors.
This has been the case since January and with no end in sight. I am experiencing financial difficulties as well as some critical health issues.
Kindly use your good offices to help me.
IM
Dear IM
The Ministry of Finance has advised Tell Claudienne that your file was sent to the Auditor General (AG) on January 7. The AG sent back the file to the ministry on March 12 with a query. The query was dealt with and returned to the AG on April 3. The AG completed the audit and sent the file back to the ministry on April 24. The ministry said that your pension award is now at the Public Services Commission for their approval.
We will follow this up for you.
Good luck.
Have a problem with a store, utility, a company: telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.