SOCIAL WELFARE REVIEW – FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTED

SHG is pleased to announce that a further three recommendations from the Sainsbury Social Welfare Review 2013 have been accepted and the necessary amendments to the Social Security Ordinance and Regulations have recently been approved to amend the eligibility criteria for Basic Island Pension.  The process for accessing Income Related Benefits will remain unchanged at this time.

The changes approved are:

  • To count Working Years completed after the age of 65 towards qualifying years for Basic Island Pension
  • To count the years that a person did not receive a disability allowance – but would have been entitled had the current rules for these payments applied at that time – towards qualifying years for Basic Island Pension, and
  • To count years that a person cared for someone but did not receive the carers’ allowance – but would have received had the current rules for this payment applied at that time – towards qualifying years for Basic Island Pension.

If you are not receiving the full Basic Island Pension and you have worked after the age of 65 or were disabled or cared for a family member – and did not receive an allowance at that time – you are encouraged to contact the Benefits Office to make an appointment for a reassessment.

There is no guarantee that the reassessment will result in an increase in payment, as the additional years now counted may not reach the next threshold (see below).

The current year thresholds and rates for Basic Island Pension are:

  • 20 to 24 qualifying years, £28.40 per week
  • 25 to 29 qualifying years, £42.60 per week, and
  • 30 qualifying years or more, £56.80 per week.

Alongside of these changes, the principle of the ‘balance of probability’ as a standard of proof in social security decision-making has been adopted, and anyone making an application for Basic Island Pension must provide evidence to support the years claimed.

The Benefits Office can be contacted on telephone no 22605, by email claims.officer@shgservices.gov.sh or you can call in person at the Office, on the first floor of the Post Office Building, Main Street, Jamestown – to book an appointment.

SHG

7 September 2015

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St Helena Government Communications Hub

Telephone: 22470
Email: kimberley.peters@sainthelena.gov.sh