News
17th June 09
6/17/2009
Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has welcomed an Assembly motion which has called on the Executive to ensure that Ex-service pensioners are receiving the required pension for healthy living.
UUP welcome ex-Service pensioners motion
Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has welcomed an Assembly motion which has called on the Executive to ensure that Ex-service pensioners are receiving the required pension for healthy living.
Speaking in the chamber the Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA said that ex-service pensioners should be held in the highest esteem by our society.
“Many of those who we are speaking of today fought in the Second World War and were prepared to pay the ultimate price so that we can experience the democratic freedoms and rights that so many take for granted today. I fully support the Royal British Legion and Age Concern’s campaign as it seeks to raise awareness of the difficulties which many ex-service men, women and families face. However, the debate also highlights the predicaments that many pensioners across Northern Ireland face as they struggle to stay above the poverty line.”
“The UK, like much of Europe, has an ageing population; However, countless pensions across the UK have diminished, many private pension schemes have closed and the national pension scheme is now widely regarded as inadequate, leaving large numbers of older people facing very uncertain futures in the immediate and longer-term. The rising food and fuel costs coupled with the recession and credit crunch have also hit the least well off the hardest.”
“I welcome making war pensioners exempt from the Disabled Facility Grant means testing; means testing Disabled Facility Grants suggests that some people’s sacrifice is worth less than others and this is clearly wrong. I also welcome the doubling of the Personal Expenses Allowance for residents of care homes as this would go along way to increasing the level of comfort and dignity for many older people in care. I further note and welcome the Minister for Health Social Services and Public Safety’s ongoing pursuance of free personal care for the elderly.”
“We also need to do more to increase the uptake by pensioners of benefits which they are completely entitled to and in this regard I acknowledge and welcome the work of ‘Access 2 Benefits’ and the efforts of the Minister for social development.”
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