Tabor says Administration not responsible nor reliable enough to ensure Social Security pensions keep pace with inflation

In order to cope with the rising cost of living, seniors are in urgent need of an increase in their pensions, says Senator Damani Tabor.

However, before any increase can be given, Tabor notes that the Government has to shore-up the Social Security Scheme (SSS).

It was under the United Progressive Party (UPP) Administration that pensioners received their last increase. Now, more than a and over a decade has passed and they are still receiving the same monies in spite of the high cost of living.

Pensioners are even struggling to get paid on time and have mounted several pickets over the past year.

Tabor says that this is unconscionable and the Gaston Browne administration needs to put the Scheme back on level financial footing and give the pensioners an increase.

Tabor says the UPP was the administration that honoured the agreement between the Government and the Social Scheme by paying $30 million on the bond before it left office. 

This is in contrast to the Browne Administration which, according to Tabor, has not made more than $4 million in bond payments during its eight-year tenure.

The Administration then reduced its debt to the Scheme by $84 million by illegally applying a property asset – the former US Naval Base – to the cash component, Tabor notes.

The UPP Senator says this is in violation of the Memorandum of Agreement that was signed in 2010.

The current administration is neither reliable nor responsible enough to get the Scheme back on the right financial footing, Tabor says. Therefore, the electorate, including pensioners, should vote for the UPP to ensure their pension payments are enough to cope with inflation.