A judge has recommended that a man be given backdated pension payments on humanitarian grounds despite ruling that his appeal was legally unacceptable.

The court heard how Joseph Deguara reached pension age in April 2009 but only applied for his pension in March 2010. His application was accepted and he was informed that he would start receiving pension payments from then on. 

However, the department refused to pay him the preceding year’s pension, citing regulations that lay down that the application had to be received within six months. The man argued that, upon reaching retirement age, his pension ought to be automatic and should not begin when an application is received. 

He said he had contributed to his pension throughout his working life and found it unacceptable that a year’s pension was withheld simply because he had not applied for it.

The law says that if no claim is made within the time window entitlement shall only accrue as from the date on which the relevant claim is accepted by the director.

Mr Deguara argued that the law also said that the director may use his discretion to consider the claim as having been officially received in good time “if such a delay does not exceed a period of 104 weeks”. He contended that the director had failed to use his discretion.

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