The country should consider financial compensation to grandparents who take care of their grandchildren, PN leadership contender Chris Said said today.

He told a press conference that one of the yardsticks of a country’s moral fibre was the way it cared for those who were vulnerable. The elderly, he said, were not a burden and needed to be recognised for their contribution to the country.

He said that as party leader, together with the shadow minister for the elderly he would work for a gradual raising of pensions to ensure that they were adequate and sustainable.

He would also seek to address various anomalies, such as making it possible for more women to contribute so that they could get a good pension. He would work for community services to be improved and for more benefits to be available through Kartanzjan.

Dr Said argued that no tax should be paid on pensions – independently of whether the pensioner was married or single.

Elderly people in the civil service should be allowed to stay on beyond retirement if they wished, by being offered part-time posts on a definite contract. Jobs Plus should also have a section which catered for the employment of elderly people.