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  • 11 months ago

On Monday night, the United National Congress issued a warning to people who receive senior citizens pension. The Leader of the Opposition claimed that a cut in the grants for pensioners is soon approaching.

But in response, the government is saying there's no need to worry. The Minister of Social Development and Family services sought to clear the air during a media conference today.

Transcript
00:00I want to give the assurance to our senior citizens that the government has
00:04no intention to interfere with the pension of any senior citizen. In the
00:12bill the eligibility criteria includes income, those who are ordinary resident
00:21and there was never any requirement with regards to savings. It has always been
00:28income-based. Minister of Social Development and Family Services Donna
00:33Cox seeking to clear the air on whether or not cuts will be forthcoming in the
00:38government's pension plans for senior citizens. On Monday the leader of the
00:43opposition raised an alarm on the issue as she spoke to her supporters during a
00:47cottage meeting. That bill will make it harder for pensioners and persons getting
00:53public assistance to access it, to access those grants. They're monitoring how much
00:59money you have in the bank, that's what they're going to do, that's what this bill
01:02is telling us. I remember they want you to go cashless, they want you to put every
01:06cent you have in the bank, remember? Remember? During a media conference
01:11Minister Cox gave an explanation as to what exactly transpired. Unfortunately it
01:17appears such a requirement was introduced into the bill which was not
01:22highlighted in the policy or even in the cabinet note that was approved and
01:27that note was in March 2023. It so happened that we had cabinet today, we
01:35normally have cabinet on a Thursday, we had cabinet today and we discussed the
01:40note and at cabinet today and discussing the note I wish to affirm that it is not
01:48and it never was cabinet's intention to affect the savings of our elderly at all.
01:56So therefore we will not be pursuing that part of the bill. The Attorney
02:02General sought to give further clarification with the hope of
02:06alleviating any affairs. The draft policy has been revised to define the term
02:10ordinary residents and include such definition in the interpretation section
02:15page 6 of the draft policy refers. Further guidelines have now been
02:19provided in section 4 to assist in the determination of whether a person is
02:23ordinarily resident or not. The ministry further proposes that all of the
02:28qualification requirements for the senior citizens pension should be
02:32contained in one comprehensive section of the act and this is the important part
02:37of paragraph 9 that I wish to read. As a consequence the ministry proposes that
02:42section 4 should speak to the entire criteria to be satisfied and I stress
02:48the words there the entire criteria to be satisfied and those criteria laid out
02:541 age, 2 income and 3 residential qualification. There was no reference to
03:03any criteria either affecting or defining savings. Akshaya Goldstein TV6 News
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