A pensioner whose wife died six years ago has discovered to his shock that he cannot now claim back payments for the living alone allowance of €9 per week beyond a six months period.
The man, who is in his 80s, lives alone in the Letterkenny area and receives the basic pension.
He says that due to the Department of Social Protection legislation he has been left with a loss of more than €2,200 which he was entitled to.
And Cllr Ian McGarvey has attacked the bureaucracy and lack of information readily available to so many old age pensioners in these circumstances.
The pensioner has requested privacy in highlighting not only his own plight but to warn others who may find themselves in similar circumstances due to a lack of information on their full entitlements.
The pensioner, due not to being aware of his entitlements, says the system deems that he can only be paid retrospectively for the past six months and is entitled to a figure of €234 rather than the sum of almost €2,500 which he thought he was entitled to receive.
The Tirconail Tribune reports that the man said that there was a huge problem of communications with the Dept. of Social Welfare.
He said that after weeks of trying to find ‘a human being’ on the other end of the phone he gave up trying and referred his problems to a local politician.
His case was taken up with the Dept. of Social Protection by Cllr. Ian McGarvey who has made a number of representations on his behalf, but to no avail.
Cllr. McGarvey says he was not aware of this piece of legislation curbing retrospective payments in such cases where the claimant legitimately was not aware of this reality.
He said there are very many pensioners out there in the same situation and he fears the Letterkenny case is not an isolated one.
Cllr. McGarvey says the current system works against pensioners and many others due to the automated phone response system operated in most Government departments.
Citing lengthy delays in his enquires with the Dept. of Social Protection in this instance, Cllr. McGarvey says that it is time the mentality of ‘pressing buttons for automated messages’ must stop.
Dealing with the case of the Letterkenny pensioner, Cllr. McGarvey says there are serious difficulties when a spouse passes away because there is an immediate loss of over €180.
Despite the loss of the spouse the pension reduction is instant yet there seems to be no method for officialdom to recognise that the circumstances needed to be investigated, if only to provide information on what their entitlements are.
Cllr. McGarvey said: “Even for us as political representatives we face problems of communications every day in our dealings with Govt. Departments and the waiting time for ‘automated messages’ is increasing all the time.
“Even the reduction of €180 in a pensioners income is no longer acceptable because so many of the costs incurred by a couple remain when one of them dies. Things like heating, travel and general everyday household cost do not change. Yet the income to that household is halved. What are these pensioners supposed to do for money and expenses?
“Many can no longer afford to run a car, pay for costs like fuel, insurance and maintenance and all this is an astronomical cost that would eat up most of the standard age old pension.”
Asked if he intended appealing the Dept. decision on the six months retrospection position, Cllr. McGarvey said: “There is no appeal mechanism available because that is their policy and this old age pensioner has been left with a loss of more €2,200
I find this is unacceptable and the Dept. of Social Protection, who when informed of the death of a spouse is fully aware of that fact and it is very regrettable they do not have any follow up position that provides information or personnel to come and visit the family home and lay down the exact amount of their entitlements.”
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