Almost all of the 267 National Insurance Scheme (NIS) employees have agreed to transition to the transformed social security organisation which will be known as the National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS) from December 1.
Their 20 colleagues who opted not to move to the new entity have entered into discussions with the Ministry of the Public Service on placement elsewhere.
This was disclosed to the House of Assembly by Minister of Labour, Social Security and the Third Sector Colin Jordan as he led off debate on the National Insurance and Social Security (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2023 on Tuesday.
He said the transition to a full-fledged commercial state-owned enterprise would not be possible without the buy-in of workers.
“If people were not prepared to go with the transition, then the transition simply can’t happen,” he said.
“I am absolutely overjoyed to be able to say to the country that 92.5 per cent of those persons have agreed to transition to the NISSS.”
The Member of Parliament for St Peter told the House of Assembly that much planning went into the transformation plans which at some stage had to include “beefed up” information-sharing when there was an indication that some people were feeling left out and uninformed.
Acknowledging that change is usually accompanied by trepidation, Jordan said: “I thank them for speaking to the issues, asking or demanding responses. I thank them for understanding the responses and making their decisions; those who made the decision to transition and those who decided not to. We are very, very happy with the work and the role of our staff in this entire process.”
The minister was also full of praise for the NIS Chairman Leslie Haynes S.C., Deputy Chairman Rawdon Adams, and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Partnership Relations Dr Karen Best who he said went above and beyond in managing the changes to the NIS and the expectations of the staff.
The workers’ representative, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and its General Secretary Richard Greene were also publicly acknowledged for their role in the exercise.
“They engaged and they worked with us to ensure that our staff got the best deal that was possible. Their interests were protected and, therefore, I thank the NUPW for their work,” Jordan added.
During Tuesday’s debate, the labour minister also reiterated the benefits of the “fully flexible” scheme that will be implemented on December 1 to encourage the estimated 24 000 self-employed people who do not currently pay NIS to do so.
Jordan described it as a true “pay-as-you-earn” scheme with no stipulated due dates, no forms to fill and fully accessible online.
He spelt out an offer to allow the target group of entrepreneurs and other self-employed people to go back for three years and pay $1 200 for each year in a bid to allow them to “catch up” and cover a period when they were not contributing to the NIS.
Those who take advantage of this proposal, he explained, would be required to pay a “penalty” or “surcharge” of five per cent to compensate for making their contributions “after the fact”.
Jordan said the flexibility which is now a part of the contributory scheme is an especially attractive feature for those previously reluctant to be confined by quarterly, structured payments.
The minister cast his colleagues’ minds back to the COVID-19 pandemic period when the government stepped up to assist self-employed Barbadians and “did not allow our people to drown”.
“Understanding that people have to eat, this Government decided that it had to do something for its small business people and entrepreneurial class. We did that, recognising that not many of that group of very industrious persons were covered by our social security system.
“They were not contributors to the NIS, but even though they were not contributors they still needed a level of protection and we made a decision to implement what we have called a business interruption plan,” he said.
Jordan added: “Coming out of that experience, many of our small business people, small entrepreneurs recognised the need for protection, the need to have coverage ‘just in case’. We do not beat up on those who do not necessarily participate. We are encouragers. The reason we don’t beat up on those who do not participate is because it is, unfortunately, too common across our landscape for persons to underestimate the need for insurance.”
He encouraged the previously uncaptured self-employed people and those with “side hustles” to take advantage of the flexible scheme.
Jordan explained that as previously established, the system only recognised the structure of the quarterly payments requirements and did not provide for those periods when there was no consistency of payments because of reduced earnings.
(SP)
