Stormont minister calls for terminally ill to be allowed state pension early
A Stormont minister has urged the UK Government to allow the terminally ill early access to their state pension.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said it is imperative that Government does more to ensure financial security and dignity for people in their final months of life.
The measure – proposed by the end-of-life charity Marie Curie – would allow terminally ill individuals to claim their state pension based on national insurance contributions, topped up to at least pension credit-level.
Figures from the charity's Dying In Poverty campaign show that around 111,000 people die in poverty each year in the UK, with more than one-in-four working-age individuals facing financial hardship in their final year.
Mr Lyons has written to pensions minister Torsten Bell to press for action.
'It is imperative that we do more to ensure financial security and dignity for people in their final months of life and I am urging Minister Bell to take decisive action on this issue,' he said.
'A terminal diagnosis should not be accompanied by the added burden of financial hardship but unfortunately this is the stark – and unacceptable – reality for too many.
'Marie Curie's compassionate and practical solution would allow terminally ill individuals to access the state pension early, providing much-needed financial stability and some peace of mind during the most difficult of times.'
On March 31, the Northern Ireland Assembly unanimously backed a private member's motion urging the UK to implement legislative changes that would enable those with a terminal diagnosis to access their state pension early.
It is understood that these issues may be tackled in the UK Government's new Pension Schemes Bill.
Mr Lyons said he has committed to engaging with the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of those diagnosed with a terminal illness and to advocating for greater support.
He added: 'I am urging the UK Government to act swiftly and compassionately to deliver meaningful change on early access to state pensions.
'No-one should be facing their final months with the added burden of financial distress and I will continue to press for a fair and compassionate system that meets the needs of those who are most vulnerable.'
A government spokesperson said: 'No-one should suffer financial hardship because of a health condition, especially people nearing the end of life.
'And our special rules unlock early access to certain benefits and support systems for those nearing the end of their lives.
'Our Pension Schemes Bill will increase the life expectancy threshold for support from six to 12 months, giving more people the help they need at the hardest time of life.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
12 hours ago
- Bloomberg
RFK Jr. Says He Won't Put Anti-Vaxxers on Key Vaccine Panel
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to bring in 'highly credentialed physicians' and 'not anti-vaxxers' to fill newly vacant slots on an influential committee that advises the US government on vaccine policy. Kennedy made the remarks roughly 24 hours after he abruptly dismissed all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in an unprecedented move he said was needed to restore public confidence in vaccine science. The new members will be in place before the panel's next scheduled meeting that starts June 25, Kennedy said Tuesday.
News24
a day ago
- News24
Graphs that paint the picture of HIV in SA: Part 2
Eight million people living with HIV. Just over 6 million on treatment. Behind these big numbers lurk a universe of fascinating epidemiological dynamics. In this special briefing, Spotlight editor Marcus Low unpacks what we know about the state of HIV in South Africa. This is part 2 of 3. In Part 1 of this Spotlight special briefing, we looked at some of the big picture dynamics of HIV in South Africa. Most of the news there was good. In Part 2, however, we look at why making progress is getting harder and consider some key vulnerabilities of our HIV programme. The final 10% or 20% will be the hardest Spotlight The above graph shows the number of people starting treatment by year. As you can see, around a decade ago, this number was often higher than 500 000. Since 2021, it has been below 300 000. Government could no doubt do a better job at helping people start and stay on treatment, but there are also good epidemiological reasons for the slow-down. In short, those who were sicker or more eager to start treatment - and for whom taking treatment is relatively easy - are mostly already on treatment. Those who are not on treatment are likely less motivated to take treatment or may have challenges in their lives that make it hard for them to start and stay on treatment. Convincing and supporting this latter group to start and stay on treatment is quite simply harder than it is for the prior group, but it is where the focus will have to be if we are to get our numbers higher. It is one reason why many are so concerned about recent aid cuts that have disproportionately impacted HIV services for marginalised groups like sex workers, people who use drugs, and men who have sex with men. These groups of people often feel unwelcome at public sector clinics. One key thing to keep in mind when looking at HIV numbers is that people cycle in and out of HIV treatment a lot. A misleading impression can, for example, be created if one looks at the number of people starting or restarting treatment without subtracting the number of people who have stopped taking treatment over the same period. It is for this reason that it is best to focus mainly on the total number of people on treatment and how that number changes from year to year (you can see a graph of this in Part 1 of this series). Finally, another important nuance in the numbers is how much damage has been done to people's immune systems by the time they start treatment – the earlier you start, the better your long-term prognosis. It is concerning that, of the 241 000 people who started treatment in 2023/2024, 54 000 had CD4 counts below 200 cells per cubic millimetre, an indication that their immune systems had already been hit hard. Bigger programme, bigger vulnerabilities? Much of how an epidemic grows or wanes depends on how many people are infectious at a specific point in time. Generally, the more infectious people there are in a population, the more other people will get infected. It follows that, if you can't cure people, the next best thing from an epidemiological control perspective, is to make people non-infectious. (See our recent Special Briefing on the search for an HIV cure.) Fortunately, apart from keeping people healthy, consistently taking antiretroviral medicines also make the vast majority of people living with HIV non-infectious. Thus, while all eight million people living with HIV in South Africa could potentially become infectious, antiretroviral treatment means that only around two million of them actually are. Spotlight It is very unlikely that we will drop from 6.2 million people on treatment to 5.2, or even 5.5, but even just dropping by 100 000 or 200 000, will mean 100 000 or 200 000 more people become infectious. That would give our HIV epidemic a blast of oxygen it wouldn't have had otherwise. There are real vulnerabilities here. According to preliminary modelling that the Department of Health commissioned in response to US funding cuts, failure to replace the HIV services that were funded by the US in South Africa could result in an additional 150 000 to 295 000 additional infections by 2028. It will take a year or two before we see the actual impact of the aid cuts in data sources such as Thembisa, but, as reported by Daily Maverick, there have been some early indications from the country's public lab service that important numbers are down. *Check back tomorrow for Part 3 of this series. You can also find the complete version of this #InTheSpotlight special briefing as a single page on the Spotlight website. Note: All of the above graphs are based on outputs from version 4.8 of the Thembisa model published in March 2025. We thank the Thembisa team for sharing their outputs so freely. Graphs were produced by Spotlight using the R package ggplot2. You are free to reuse and republish the graphs. For ease of use, you can download them as a Microsoft PowerPoint slide deck. Technical note: The Thembisa model outputs include both stock and flow variables. This is why we have at some places written 2024 (for stock variables) and 2023/2024 (for flow variables). 2024 should be read as mid-2024. 2023/2024 should be read as the period from mid-2023 to mid-2024. Show Comments ()
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Bloomberg
RFK Jr. Removes All Members of CDC Panel Advising on Vaccines
The Department of Health and Human Services is retiring the 17 members of a committee of government vaccine advisers, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Monday. 'A clean sweep is needed to reestablish public confidence in vaccine science,' Kennedy said in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal.
