Head v Social Security Commissioner & Anor, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, May 07, 2009, [2009] EWHC 950 (Admin)

Reporting Judge: [2009] EWHC 950 (Admin)

President: Head v Social Security Commissioner & Anor

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Head v Social Security Commissioner & Anor, Court of Appeal - Administrative Court, May 07, 2009, [2009] EWHC 950 (Admin)

Neutral Citation Number: [2009] EWHC 950 (Admin)

Case No: CO/9394/2006

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

ADMINISTRATIVE COURT

Royal Courts of Justice

Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

Date: 07/05/2009

Before :

THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE NICOL

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Between :

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Mr James Clifford of Counsel (instructed by Free Representation Unit) for the Claimant

Mr Andrew Henshaw of Counsel (instructed by The Solicitors Office) for the Defendant

Hearing dates:

27th April 2009

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JudgmentThe Honourable Mr Justice Nicol:

1. The Claimant in this case seeks judicial review of the refusal of a Social Security Commissioner to grant him permission to appeal against the disallowance of his appeal by the Social Security Appeal Tribunal. The underlying issue of substance concerns the computation of the state retirement pension to which Mr Head is entitled. For part of his working life, Mr Head was a member of an Occupational Pension Scheme (OPS) that was contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS). For another part, Mr Head was not contracted out of SERPS. This state of affairs is sometimes called `contracted in'. Although that term gives the misleading impression that some positive agreement was necessary, it is a convenient label which I, too, will use. While he was contracted out of SERPS, Mr Head had to pay only a lower rate of National Insurance contributions (NICs). His NICs were higher when his employment was contracted in....

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