An independent body should be set up to manage and distribute pensions to elderly people who are at risk of being cheated out of their money, particularly in the absence of trustworthy caregivers.
That recommendation has been made in the draft National Policy on Ageing for Barbados 2022-2023 which suggested that agency would work closely with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) to put stringent measures in place to ensure the finances of senior citizens are not abused or mismanaged.
Lead consultant on the policy, Professor Dwayne Devonish, said the proposed body would also work with other relevant agencies, family members, community members, and vigilant caregivers to build and execute robust surveillance and reporting systems and protocols for monitoring, investigating, and addressing matters related to the misuse and abuse of pensions and other social security benefits of older people.
He highlighted some areas of the draft policy during a national consultation hosted by the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Friday.
Another key area, Professor Devonish said, is educating older people and their caregivers about the rights of those senior citizens to “sound and proper use and management of their pensions and other social security benefits to sustain their protection and care”.
He said there is also a need to continually educate, guide, and instruct people who are seeking permission to act on behalf of elderly persons about “their duty of care and responsibilities in the management of pensions, social security of the elderly beneficiaries”.
The University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus professor pointed to another suggestion in the document that work be done to extend acceptable and improved social security coverage through targeted and approved legal and other structural reforms, for older people with little or no social security coverage.
The draft policy also calls for efforts to support and advocate for the rights of older people to get jobs.
Professor Devonish said legislation, policies, and other interventions at national and institutional levels should be used to remove social barriers to older people gaining and maintaining employment.
“Some of these initiatives may include enabling older people to continue to work as long as they want to work and are able to work and/or removing disincentives to working beyond retirement, and eliminating age barriers affecting older people wanting to find and maintain jobs and alleviating the onset of disadvantages experienced by older workers in employment situations,” he said.
“Organise tripartite interventions among government, employers, and trade unions to encourage and incentivise employers to hire and retain older workers in organisations, as well as invest in training and development opportunities to reskill and upskill these workers to maintain their levels of motivation, morale, and productivity within the workspace,” he added.
Professor Devonish said the National Policy on Ageing is one of the most progressive attempts to address several issues facing the elderly and he called on all stakeholders in the public and private sectors, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), to work in tandem to support and protect Barbados’ elderly population.
“We have a policy document – it is in draft form, it’s being finalised but we need to ensure that the implementation is done properly. We are calling for not just the Government, but all stakeholder partners to come together….
“This is what we call a whole of country approach to this policy response. That’s why we have this session here, where we are saying that even though the Government, through the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs has commissioned this exercise, we are asking people to come on board to provide, not just at the conceptualisation stage where we are still at, but also at the execution and even the monitoring and evaluation periods,” Professor Devonish added.
