A shadow minister has criticised the Government for failing to provide a long-promised pilot programme designed to assist vulnerable seniors.

Robin Tucker, the Shadow Minister of Youth and Family Services, said greater numbers of seniors have been put at risk as the creation of an Office of the Public Guardian is delayed.

She added: “Our seniors deserve more than promises — they deserve protection, dignity and a government that acts.”

Ms Tucker was speaking after it was revealed by Ageing and Disability Services that cases of senior abuse increased from 100 in 2023-24 to 211 in 2025-26.

The agency attributed the rise to better awareness of what constitutes senior abuse, which was linked in part directly to its campaigns.

Ms Tucker, a One Bermuda Alliance MP, said that the data “deeply alarmed” the Opposition and reflected “a growing crisis affecting some of our most vulnerable citizens”.

She added the Government’s failure to deliver an OPG had “real consequences” that were being felt.

Ms Tucker said: “Without an OPG, seniors at risk of physical, psychological or financial abuse are left without the independent oversight and advocacy they urgently need.

“The Government has acknowledged that demand for public guardianship is rising due to Bermuda’s ageing population, yet years later, Bermudians are still waiting for the promised safeguards to materialise.”

Ms Tucker insisted that the Government needed to give the office full legislative authority and staff.

She added the office would be necessary to build on ADS resources, address challenges with caseloads and timely intervention, and to treat protection for seniors as “a matter of national urgency, not long-term aspiration”.

The Government first proposed the Office of the Public Guardian during the 2020 Throne Speech as a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Youth, Social Development and Seniors.

The office was designed to give seniors and those with disabilities help in managing their health, financial and legal affairs.

Ianthia Simmons-Wade, who was a Progressive Labour Party MP at the time, was commissioned to work on the office between April 1, 2022 and March 31, 2023.

She was paid $5,000 a month over that period, totalling $60,000, before later retiring from politics.

The need for the office was highlighted again in 2025 when the Government announced the Ministry of Justice was drafting the legislative framework for the pilot programme.

Requests for comment were sent to the justice, and youth, social development and seniors ministries.

The Ministry of Youth, Social Development and Seniors said the matter fell under the remit of the Ministry of Justice, which was working on a response.