Late NI

The appellant went to work for the police in Kenya in October 1948. He had made ten National Insurance contributions before that. Although a circular telegram providing information on National Insurance abroad should have been sent to him by the colonial office he did not receive one. He did not tell the relevant authorities that he was living in Kenya until 1971 when he discovered that contributions were not being made on his behalf. He made backdated contributions for the previous six years and applied to make payments for the period from 1948 to 1965.

The board said that failure to make contributions should be attributed to the appellant's ignorance. On appeal to the General Commissioners they found in favour of the appellant.

The issue before the High Court was whether the authorities had a duty to contact a former contributor who stopped making payments that he...