Government ?anticipates? seniors will get their pension increase by Christmas, despite Opposition United Bermuda Party fears they won?t come through in time, Premier Alex Scott said yesterday.

Mr. Scott spoke out after Opposition leader Dr. Grant Gibbons told Government will still have to table an order to bring in the three percent hike.

Dr. Gibbons said although MPs passed legislation last week to allow the increase to be retroactive to August, the House of Assembly still had to pass the order, and he feared it would not come through in time for Christmas.

But Mr. Scott, who is also acting Finance Minister, said yesterday: ?The simple fact is that the 2003 General Election precluded the pension increase order from being brought to the House in June, 2003.

?Further, to make the pension increase retroactive, Government has had to amend the 1970 Contributory Pension Act.

?The House of Assembly has passed the amendment and Government anticipates that everything will be in place for the benefit increases to be included in the December 2003 pension payments to our senior citizens.?

Mr. Scott?s statement did not say if a further order will need to be tabled to specify the three percent increase.

But he added: ?The grandstanding on this pension matter by the Opposition party has become somewhat tiresome.

?The Opposition should tread carefully in this matter because the United Bermuda Party had some 35 years to put Bermuda?s senior citizens on a sound financial footing.

?If the Hon. Louise Jackson, the UBP spokesperson for seniors, is correct in her statement that Bermuda?s pensions are ranked 120th in the world, then that is due to the failed policy of previous UBP administrations.

?That state of affairs certainly did not develop in our five years of Progressive Labour Party Government.

?I should also like to point out that the last UBP administration handed over the Contributory Pension Fund with nearly $11 million of unpaid contributions.

?This information may be gleaned from the recent report issued by the Auditor General. At March 31, 1998 when the present Opposition Leader was the then Finance Minister, the unpaid contributions due to the Fund amounted to $10.6 million.

?This figure accounts for 81 per cent of the amount that was outstanding at the end of March 2002. In other words, almost all of the arrears in the Fund were built up during the previous UBP administrations. The UBP cannot escape this unpalatable fact.

?Since coming into office in November, 1998, the Progressive Labour Party Government has taken steps to strengthen the collection of contributions to the Pension Fund.

?And, in order to further improve the financial status of the Fund without imposing burdensome increases in contribution levels on workers and businesses, this Government changed the investment strategy for assets in the Pension Fund.

?The result is that we have a Fund with a market valuation of $787 million in November 2003, some $100 million higher than at the same time last year.?

The UBP claimed seniors will actually be worse off because the three percent increase is lower than the 3.8 percent inflation rate recorded for September, the latest available month.

But Mr. Scott said: ?The three percent increase in seniors? pensions is in line with the underlying trend rate of inflation and follows a three percent benefit increase in August of 2002.

?Seniors can be assured that this Government is committed to their well being and they may anticipate receiving their pension increases in December 2003, inclusive of the back payment to August 2003.?