Cox: Pensioners get $4b in senior citizens grants

MINISTER of Social Development Donna Cox said the past year saw $4.059 billion paid to elderly people to help with living costs by way of the Senior Citizens Grant. Saying this was paid to eligible people age 65 and above, she said 114,242 people had benefited, including 9,647 people recently added.

Cox spoke on the budget in the Senate on October 22.

She said 21,639 people had received payments under the disability assistance grant including 1,000 added this past fiscal year. The total spent on the disability grant, for both adults and minors, was $73.426 million, Cox said.

Some 15,654 people, including 1,587 new recipients, received public assistance, which allocation totalled $291.227 million, she said.

Cox said 622 people received some form of general assistance – including help for household, clothing, dietary, funeral, prosthetics, rental and school supply costs – totalling $8.285 million.

Some 14,979 households received a food support grant whose total allocation was $116.383 million.

She listed the beneficiaries of the national social development programme to improve people's living standards.

Some 479 people had received a grant of up to $15,000 to do minor house repairs, the sum totalling $2.273 million. A house wiring grant was received by 138 people, for a total spent of $496,063, Cox said. Some 169 recipients had received a sanitary plumbing assistance grant (for normal and disaster conditions), out of a total allocation of $568,903.

Cox said 179 people had received funding to become employable or set up a small business through the Sowing Empowerment through Entrepreneurial Development (SEED) programme, funded to the tune of $758,554. "We are fostering self-sufficiency," she declared.

Some 260 homes had received the disaster relief grant, totalling $1.562 million, Cox added. Some 105 households hit by disaster had received temporary food cards for a total allocation of $58,850. Cox then detailed certain allocations made for senior citizens including $3.6 million for community care homes.

She announced a new social welfare office for Arima and for Port of Spain. The social welfare offices in Aranguez, Point Fortin, Siparia and San Fernando will start to open at 7 am to facilitate senior citizens who like to do their business early, she said, adding that other offices elsewhere may do likewise if staff are willing.

Saying Trinidad and Tobago has the third highest suicide rate in the English-speaking Caribbean, she said her ministry runs a hotline at 800-COPE.

Cox said her ministry was funding online courses in numeracy, digital literacy and remedial CSEC Math. The government wanted every citizen to have the tools to thrive in a digital economy, she said.

The ministry had awarded 20,000 book grants to needy pupils worth $1,000 each, Cox added.