Utility vouchers are not to be used by relatives of pensioners who have died or migrated, PDV-CAB officer warns

Persons who collect Senior Citizens Utility Subsidy Booklets on
behalf of beneficiaries who have died or no longer live in Antigua
and Barbuda are being warned that this practice is tantamount to
fraud.

The warning comes from Jellette Ralph, the PDV-CAB office
administrator.
 
Distribution of the booklets begins at 9 a.m. today, August 21, at the
Multi-Purpose Centre at Perry Bay.

Ralph notes that only Social Security pensioners are eligible for the
programme, and those who are unable to collect the booklets can
have someone do so on their behalf – with the required documents,
including the beneficiary’s Social Security card.
 
However, she is warning family members not to collect the booklets
if they know that their loved ones are deceased or no longer reside
here. This has been done in the past, she says, with relatives
claiming they were unaware that they were not allowed to do so.
 
The booklet is for the pensioner and is not transferable, Ralph
stresses; therefore, it is not to be used by any other person if the
beneficiary is no longer alive or has moved out of the country.

Ralph says that persons who have fraudulently used the vouchers
will have to repay the company.
 
However, according to Ralph, there are honest individuals who
would turn in the booklets when beneficiaries are migrating and
notify the programme’s officials to stop printing vouchers for them.

Just over 7,000 seniors are beneficiaries of the programme and
receive $100 a month towards their utility payments.
 
There will be a registration exercise in November for new
pensioners, Ralph says.