NIS to tackle serious issues starting with its computer system

The social security “lifeline” of Barbadians will soon be subjected to a major system review.

Following years of complaints by taxpayers who have experienced frustration at not being able to reach “real” people on the telephone and delays in payment of some social security benefits, the Board of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) is scheduled to meet next week for the first time this year to map out a priority strategic plan of action to start resolving the most urgent challenges.

In making the disclosure, Chairman of the NIS Leslie Haynes, Q.C. said an overhaul of the computer system will be top of the agenda.

He said previous efforts to get the state entity to honour deadlines to have various problems solved, have failed.

“Every year that I go there, I have to ask management and the deadlines are never kept because of one thing or the other. One of the important things that we have to do is to look at the computer system. We need to either bring it up-to-date or change the computer system,” he told Barbados TODAY.

The NIS head added: “We need to look at that because the computer system … it is usually blamed for not being able to produce the accounts and so on. So the computer system is a priority.”

Haynes disclosed that the NIS expects to receive an actuarial report soon for the last three years and when that is in hand, the department would then have to decide how to go forward from there.

“But it is the computer system, the telephone system and so on [that require urgent attention],” Haynes emphasised.

“If we can go back to the usual plans, we would set our priorities that deal with the problems that plague the National Insurance. That is my intention and the Board’s intention, and we are going to get back there,” Haynes assured.

He reasoned that all of the problems facing the social security system cannot be fixed overnight.

“We are painfully aware of the complaints of the public, and we are not saying the complaints of the public aren’t justified, but we were on our way to tackling these problems when COVID hit us,” Haynes said.

He noted that at the same time, COVID has caused “a lot of improvements” to the NIS.

“The fact that cheques are now deposited straight to bank accounts. The last improvement we had was that people can now apply for sickness benefits via the computer because we have devised some forms whereby the doctor can sign…and it can be submitted electronically to the NIS, all because of COVID,” the NIS head contended.

“So yes, there are complaints. Yes, we have been working on these complaints. But as a result, the issues created by COVID have to take priority. So yes, we are going back. We haven’t forgotten these complaints and we are going back and tackle them…because what we want to do in the transition, is to create a national insurance and social security system that is top-class,” Haynes promised.

He said that now that the pandemic is becoming less of an issue, “we will get back to things that are on our plate”.

Meanwhile, the NIS chair said the department is working “terribly hard” on updating its annual balance sheets, having not filed audited accounts since 2011.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb