A 15 percent increase in retirement, invalidity, disablement and survivor’s pension, granted by the former Progressive National Party (PNP) administration in 2007, is to see a partial roll-back as audits sanctioned by the Interim Government found that the decision was illegal under the Ordinance, and therefore has slashed it by 50 percent.
Now instead of receiving the 15 percent beneficiaries will take home 7.5 percent of that increase. This was disclosed by Director for the National Insurance Board (NIB) Colin Heartwell, at a news conference held inside the NIB Board Room on Providenciales, Thursday (October 6).
“In 2007, a ministerial directive was implemented without being legally sanctioned and pensioners between July 2007 and October 2010 were granted a 15% increase in Retirement, Invalidity, Disablement and Survivor’s Pensions that they weren’t legally entitled to receive. This pension increase will be reduced by 7.5 percent,” Heartwell said.
The adjustment, according to Heartwell, will impact approximately 242 beneficiaries across the islands.
Similarly, the NIB said it will also halt the collection of voluntary contributions by non-residents, since that could open the door for what it termed as abuse of the system.
According to Heartwell, contributors are qualified for pension payment after ten years paying into the NIB. And knowing this, a number of non-residents who once worked under ten years in the Turks and Caicos Islands, were still making what are called voluntary contributions with the aim of qualifying for pensions.
“That is not the standard process of operating in the region. Normally, a person has to live in the country to qualify for making voluntary contributions. So if you work for ten years in the country, you automatically entitled, wherever you live in the world (for pension), and many pensioners that we have are not living here; they are living in other areas.
Those people who have not yet met the minimum requirements to receive a pension, can under the current law, make voluntary contributions to bring their total years of contribution to ten years. We are going to eliminate that loophole for people who are living abroad and didn’t qualify.
So, it is going to be only for those people living in the country, who haven’t made, and then, they can make voluntary contributions to bring their total to 10 years.”
According to Heartwell, this group of contributors living overseas has seen some growth over the years, saying that it could pose a potential risk for abuse. He noted that the contributions collected from persons living abroad and not qualified under the new regime, will be used to benefit contributors living in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Source: The Sun
