ALONE Calls for the state pension and other social welfare payments to be benchmarked.

In its submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands the organisation calls for the state pension and other social welfare payments benchmarked.

Dublin, April 10th: ALONE, the organisation that supports older people to age at home, addressed the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands today to highlight the complexity and inaccessibility of the social welfare system.

ALONE provided support to over 36,000 older people in 2023. 12,000 of those people were new to their service, and we supported over 31,000 older people indirectly through our Community impact network.

The number of support interventions ALONE provided in finance almost doubled in 2023 compared to 2022. Approximately 2,775 people newly assessed by ALONE indicated that they had issues with Finance, and among them, almost half had issues with their benefits and entitlements. ALONE also called attention to the Government’s commitment to applying a benchmark to the State Pension which was stated for Budget 2021.

ALONE CEO Seán Moynihan said  “ALONE has actively campaigned for over 10 years to have the state pension and other social welfare payments benchmarked and we were happy to see it included in the Programme for this Government. The lack of progress in delivering it remains frustrating.”

He continued “This is needed for the older people who rely solely on the state pension and live in or at the constant threat of poverty, while their housing and other costs spiral. These people form the majority of whom ALONE works with each day.”

The Issues with benefits and entitlements mean the person did not know they were entitled to a particular support, and/or needed assistance to fill out the forms to access the support. Often, older people approach ALONE because they are in financial difficulty, and it emerges that they are not receiving all they are entitled to. By the time an organisation like ALONE supports them to secure these benefits they are often in dire need.

CEO Seán Moynihan concluded “It is ALONE’s view that streamlining of eligibility criteria and reducing the levels of means testing being used across the entitlements available from this Department, would have significant impact on older people’s ability to know about and access the supports they are entitled to, while reducing the administrative cost burden. This can also be achieved through initiatives such as benchmarking the State pension. We witnessed how the €1.2bn package of once off winter payments alleviated poverty rates for over 65’s, in the recent CSO figures, proving how close people are to poverty when relying on state pension income. “

ALONE’s Policy Asks for Government concerning Pensions and Income

• Put in place relevant legislation for formally introducing the Benchmarking of the State Pension as committed to in the Roadmap to Social Inclusion 2020-2025 (which had a target of Budget 2021 for its implementation); and provide the required increases in the pension in the interim. ​
• Streamline the process for applying for entitlements for older people and create a ‘one stop shop’ to inform and provide these.
• Benchmark the Living Alone Allowance.
• Extend the Fuel Allowance season from 28 to 35 weeks, from the beginning of September to the beginning of May and increase the amount from €33 per week to €53 per week. ​

ALONE will continue to campaign on behalf of the older people we support in areas like loneliness, housing, Pensions & Income, Home Support Care and ageism.