Abu Dhabi: Before proceeding for their nearly four-month summer break, members of the Federal National Council will on Tuesday urge the government to set up centres for people with severe disability and autism patients to help them participate in integrated community settings.

The House’s session on Tuesday will see members also urging the government to allow men to work after pension age and update pensioners’ data.

Hamad Al Rahoumi, an FNC member from Dubai, will pose a question, rescheduled from another meeting, to Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, on why senior citizens are discouraged from supplementing their pension with additional income. Al Rahoumi argues that the government is missing the point by setting Dh9,000 as a ceiling for combined pension income.

Under the present laws, pensioners are only allowed to supplement their pension with additional income if combined pension income does not exceed Dh9,000.

Al Rahoumi argued the pension law is outdated and needed to be revised especially as the minimum pension income is now set at Dh10,000, asking why seniors are being discouraged from taking up jobs, while statistics show more than two-thirds of them are out of work.

Al Rahoumi said the government should help older Emiratis to work, if they are able and wish to do so. “Seniors should be allowed to have substantial earnings and still receive an age pension. Preventing them from supplementing their pension not only hurts many Emiratis, but also is a hurdle in retaining the rich expertise they have acquired after long service,” he said.

Al Tayer, also head of the General Authority for Pensions and Social Security, will also be questioned by Dr Abdullah Hamad Al Shamsi, a member from Ajman, on why the Dh10,000 minimum pension income does not cover those who retired before January 1, 2008.

Al Shamsi said excluding senior citizens who retired before that date caused a substantial difference between income of pensioners who used to hold the same job grade.

Al Shamsi also sought an update of pensioners’ data by linking the General Authority for Pensions and Social Security with the Emirates Identity Authority.

The council will also review a draft law on small and medium enterprises. Ali Eisa Al Nuaimi, a member from Ajman, said young entrepreneurs in the UAE face challenges of a highly competitive global business environment and risk to invest their capital in new business ideas. The law, he said, is meant to encourage young entrepreneurs to start up a business and sustain its success.

The government, Al Nuaimi said, the government’s support strategy to entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a priority. “The government provides financial support and other logistics to small business enterprise. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in market economies are the engine of economic development. Entrepreneurial flexibility, adaptability and reaction to challenges would contribute to sustainable growth and employment generation in a significant manner,” he said.