Pensioners to receive 25k cash grant, new pension book when they collect October pension
Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud
Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud

WHEN the world observes International Day of Older Persons on October 1, 2021, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security (MoHSSS) will kickstart a month dedicated to the elderly as pensioners will be able to uplift their $25,000 cash voucher and their 2022 pension booklets throughout the month.

Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Dr. Vindhya Persaud, during an update on Saturday, said that officers from her ministry will be visiting various locations countrywide to ensure every pensioner receives their cash voucher and 2022 pension book when they receive their pension for October, 2021.

This is in keeping with President Dr. Irfaan Ali promise in August, 2021 that some 6,500 elderly people will benefit from a $25,000 one-off cash grant which will place an additional $1.6 billion of disposable income in the hands of that section of the population.

In a bid to ease the hassle for senior citizens to uplift their monthly pension, the MoHSSS, in March 2021, introduced alternative locations where pensioners can redeem their vouchers at any MoneyGram, Surepay and BillExpress location countrywide, in addition to their respective banking institutions or post offices.

Throughout the month of October, ministry officials will be at the various locations in some of the administrative regions where the elderly usually uplift their monthly pension, for the distribution of the cash vouchers and the 2022 pension booklets.

In the first week of October, the officials are expected to be in Regions Four and Seven, while in the second week they will be in Regions Five and Six and in the third week they are scheduled to be in Regions Eight and 10.

The ministry’s officers will be at the location from 8:00 hours to 17:30 hours from Monday to Saturday during the week which they are designated to be within a particular Region.

Pensioners in the other administrative regions will receive their pension, the $25,000 cash voucher and their 2022 booklets as normal through the same method they utilise throughout the year, direct payments, as well as delivery, the minister said.

While pensioners usually visit either a financial institution or post office to uplift their pension, for the month of October, the MoHSSS will be publishing a list where respective persons will have to visit to uplift their pension as well as their voucher and 2022 pension book.

“For the month of October, we have split up the regions, so persons need to check a list that will be available in the newspapers and any other media as well as in your regions on posters advising you where you need to go,” the minister said.

“So, some of you might be going to an alternate venue, like MoneyGram, Western Union or SurePay and others might be going to the Post Office, so I really encourage you to check the list to see where you should be going,” she added.

Minister Persaud said that when pensioners arrive on the day to receive their pension and cash voucher, they are to simply collect their pension for the month of October before heading over to a Ministry Official to collect their $25,000 voucher and 2022 pension book.

“To make the process seamless and to ensure that there is not a lot of wait time, utilise the six-day period in each week … the idea is don’t all go on the first day, if you miss the period dedicated to your region you can continue to collect your voucher and your pension booklets for the remainder of the month,” Dr. Persaud said.

The minister said that in addition to the distribution of the cash voucher and the 2022 pension booklet, the ministry will be providing its regular services across the country through their Officers.

Meanwhile, President Ali had also announced that a similar one-off grant of $25,000 will also be distributed to all recipients of public assistance, and persons living with disabilities, which will benefit some 25,000 persons, and place more than $600 million of additional disposable income in their pockets.

Further, the Head-of-State also announced that an electricity credit will be paid to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) on behalf of all households consuming not more than 75 kilowatt hours of electricity per month.

The credit to each household will be equivalent to one month of their electricity bill, and will inject more than $200 million of disposable income into more than 40,000 households.

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