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Contact:
Prime Minister's Press
Secretary
Monday, July 25, 2005 - The
increase in Public Assistance promised by the Prime Minister during his last
Budget Address is now in effect. As a result, beneficiaries – such a persons
suffering from old age, illness, disease, bodily infirmity or mental incapacity,
and who are unable to maintain themselves -- are now receiving more than before.
During his Budget Address last April 19, the Prime Minister indicated that the
Public Assistance Programme would be increased by 37.5% to 41%.
He indicated that as of June 1, 2005, a single person who received $60 would now
receive $85 per month; a family of two persons why received $90 would now
receive $125; a family of three or four persons receiving $120 would now receive
$165; a household of five persons receiving $150 would now receive $200; and a
household of five or more persons would receive $180 will now be entitled to
$250 per month.
The increases announced in April, and which are now in effect, followed a 50%
increase in Public Assistance in 1999, less than two years after the Labour
administration took office.
But beneficiaries of the Public Assistance Programme are not the only ones who
are receiving more financial assistance from government. Pensioners have also
been receiving more monthly financial benefits from May 1, 2005, when their
payments were increased by between two and five percent. This followed previous
increases in 2000.
Homes for the Aged, which take care of marginalized persons -- who are victims
of either alcohol or other form of substance abuse, or who have simply been
abandoned by their families -- have also been receiving more assistance from the
Government.
The Prime Minister had announced in his budget that there would be a 50%
increase in the annual allocations to Homes for the Aged over the next two
budget cycles.
According to the Prime Minister, the increases to the Homes for the Aged would
be spread over this year and the next at a rate of 25% each year.
This will result in increases in the subvention to the various homes, ranging in
some cases from $80,000 to $120,000; from $60,000 to $90,000; from $58,000 to
$87,600; from $50,000 to $75,000; and from $24,000 to $36,000 annually.
The increased allocations to the Homes for the Aged are already in effect.
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