The government will be gradually reforming the pensions system to ensure that the minimum national pension is above the level which sees people at the risk of poverty, Social Policy Minister Michael Farrugia said in Parliament.

He said the process would benefit all those born before 1962 and who had paid the necessary social security contributions.

He said such a reform had long been proposed, even under the former government, by the pensions reform group, but no action was taken to date.

The minister also said that his ministry was carrying out an evaluation of means testing for non-contributory benefits.

The minister was replying to questions by Labour MP Anthony Agius Decelis and Nationalist MPs Robert Cutajar and Paula Mifsud Bonnici. During their questions, the Nationalist MPs pointed out that under the present government, the number of people at risk of poverty had risen to over 100,000.

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