Gov’t offered option of allowing self-employed to pay NIS via SurePay

By Anesta Henry

Self-employed persons may be able to make payments to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) through the SurePay bill payment system sometime in the future.

On Wednesday, when the company launched an upgraded portal at its Warrens Industrial Park headquarters, Director of SurePay Anthony Yearwood put that option on the table.

He announced that the Barbados-based payments system, currently celebrating 20 years of service, was prepared to offer NIS payments as a service to be facilitated through new branding, an upgrade of the portal, and the launch of a mobile payments app.

“As you know, globally, national insurance services are faced with existential challenges of their own. Recently, there has been much discussion around our own National Insurance Scheme. We have heard the Prime Minister saying that she would like to see it made easier for self-employed persons to contribute to the NIS.

“With the government’s approval and the cooperation of the NIS, SurePay stands ready and eager to facilitate self-employed persons making contributions to the NIS immediately through all of our channels, including the online channel,” Yearwood said.

“Our upgraded bill payments portal and mobile app, in addition to our over-the-counter service, offer a win-win for the government and consumers to help secure the future of the NIS by making it easy for self-employed business people to pay their contributions on time and, as the Prime Minister suggested, even to pay over and above their regular payments…  SurePay is designed and ready to implement this type of service,” he added.

In response to SurePay’s offer, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn said it was important to ensure that the entire social security network is secure, and he advised management of the bill payment system to request a meeting with the NIS board to facilitate necessary discussions.

“In the same way that they already have 94 billers on their system, it is just an avenue with respect to collection in relation to [NIS payments], so I see no difficulty in having that as an option, whether physically or online for people to be able to do that,” he said. 

“We have been able to do it with taxes and a range of other fees and, as I said, it is the government’s policy to provide choice and convenience for people to pay the government. National Insurance is a part of the government,” Straughn said.

Yearwood added that the upgraded portal would also allow the government to offer a wide range of online services, in addition to the current land tax, and lay the foundation for SurePay to expand deeper into the Caribbean and
internationally.

Saying that SurePay and the Barbados Bankers Association were urged to make digital payments to the government a reality, Yearwood said he was challenged by Minister Straughn one Friday three years ago to make it possible for Barbadians to pay land tax through SurePay. He said that became possible the following Monday.

“Since then, we have facilitated the payment of a wide range of licences and fees for the BRA (Barbados Revenue Authority) and look forward to taking on many more,” he said.

SurePay was launched in 2003 to provide Barbadians and businesses with a convenient bill payment option, allowing consumers to pay more than 90 bills, including utility bills, credit union payments, insurance premiums, school fees, taxes, licences and fees to several government departments and statutory corporations, at 45 physical locations or online.

“SurePay’s vision is to be the primary Caribbean-based facilitator of electronic bill payments, linking businesses to consumers through a diversified range of partners and payment channels. We aim to extend our services beyond the Caribbean basin into the Caribbean diaspora in North America and the United Kingdom as an alternative method of assisting families at home. 

“We will continue to cater to the most demographics, including the unbanked and under-banked populations, by providing the most accessible, convenient, and inclusive service delivery,” Yearwood said.

He also explained that Barbadians working abroad would now be able to assist family and friends with utility bill payments, student fees at tertiary education institutions and various services.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb