From 1 October pensioners who currently have a full-rate pension of £204.19 will see an increase of £5.74 per week, or £298.48 a year. In real terms, once inflation is taken into account, this equates to a 0.2 per cent increase.
Meanwhile, other benefits, which are mainly paid to working-age people, such as short-term incapacity allowance, long-term incapacity allowance and maternity benefits are all due to increase by 2.6 per cent next month.
Senator Sarah Ferguson, chair of Age Concern Jersey, said that although she welcomed the increase she still believed more needed to be done to support the Island’s ageing population.
Senator Ferguson said: ‘Anything that will help pensioners is a good thing, and I’m all for it, but there are more things that need to be done.
‘Prices are still going up and a country that doesn’t look after its old people then makes that place a very unpleasant place to live.
‘These are people who have paid their dues to society and have worked hard to make a big contribution to their pension, and for many of them it is their only source of income.’
