Mrs Daphne Carol Gutteridge v Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs

Facts

Mrs Daphne Gutteridge, born on 21 November 1947 and married on 9 March 1968, worked almost continuously from the age of 15. In August 2003, when she was nearly 56, the Pension Service sent her a calculation showing that her contributions qualified for only 26 out of 38 years. On enquiry she was told the shortfall arose because she had made a married woman's election reducing her liability to pay National Insurance contributions. She asked for evidence of that election and received only assertions that the department's records supported it; the relevant records, although copied internally in 2003, were not shown to her until July 2005, and the most significant documents only after she appealed. On 10 March 2002 Mrs Nossiter, an officer of the Board of the Inland Revenue, decided that she was not liable to pay contributions from 10 March 1969 to 5 April 1975 and was liable to pay reduced rate contributions from 6 April 1975 to 5 April 1981. That decision was varied on 21 March 2005 to state that she was not liable in the earlier period, was entitled to pay reduced rate contributions from 6 April 1975 until 5 April 1981, and was liable to pay reduced rate contributions in the 1978/79 tax year in which she was employed. She appealed, initially electing the General Commissioners and then, by letter of 4 June 2005, the Special Commissioners.