Opposition leader Jeanne Atherden questioned during the Budget debate of finance why government staff could not draw cash from the Contributory Pension Fund in times of hardship.

David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, said his government had amended the Public Services Superannuation Fund so that they can draw down on their pensions, but said it was not possible from the contributory pension. He added: “You cannot, of course, draw from the Contributory Pension Fund because that is a different type of arrangement. You can under the Public Service Superannuation Fund.

“It is not that type of fund — it is not individual amounts that are pledged and so from that particular arrangement the only recourse, unfortunately, is for those persons to go to the Department of Financial Assistance. However, as you will note, the value of private pensions in the total community is up to about $3.2 billion now.

“I think that going forward in the future years we will see less pressure on [the Department of] Financial Assistance from seniors as more and more persons will have access to their private pensions on retirement.”