Minister must inform older people of radical changes to State Pension

Older & Bolder today (18th April) called on Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton to launch a public awareness campaign to highlight radical changes to the Contributory  State pension linked to the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill commencing in the Dáil this week. 

While the changes to qualifying contributions will affect some people from as early as this year, so far the complicated changes have not been clearly highlighted to citizens.      

“There has been some publicity about the increase in the age at which you can collect your State Pension, but other changes about what you need to qualify for a full pension have so far gone under the radar,” Patricia Conboy, director of Older & Bolder said today. 

“The majority of older people rely heavily on the State Pension and the lack of clarity about impending changes is contributing to the climate of insecurity for people now approaching pension age.  Those with breaks in their social insurance contributions records perhaps due to time taken to  look after children or sick and frail relatives are now worried that this will be a disadvantage to them in retirement.

“The bar is being raised significantly in 2012.  The Minister and her Department need to be proactive in highlighting the changes and most importantly, in providing assistance to people who want to assess how their individual pension will be affected. ”