Jordan: Remaining Solidarity Allowance payments due by end of April

All Barbadians still awaiting their $300 Solidarity Allowance are expected to receive their payments by the end of next month, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan told the House of Assembly on Monday.

As the House Estimates took up the appropriations for his ministry, Jordan said while the vast majority of eligible people had already received the one-off payment, a small number remained outstanding and efforts continued to resolve the matter.

“I am assured that those payments outstanding are going to be addressed. I think there’s an attempt to have that done on or before the end of April,” he said.

The issue arose after St Michael South MP Kirk Humphrey sought an update, noting that several people had reported not receiving the payment despite repeated visits to the National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS).

While canvassing during the general election campaign, Humphrey met individuals who remained unpaid months after the programme began, he said. He recounted meeting a young man leaving the National Insurance building after making a third visit to enquire about his payment.

Humphrey said: “He had now been coming from the NIS to report a third time that he had not received his allowance and I think what he was being told was that it was pending and … I believe that pending must have an end date.”

Jordan acknowledged that he too had heard complaints from constituents who had not yet received the payment.

“Like you, I also have some constituents who have not received and I hear it from time to time. The last time was actually at a church service,” he said.

He explained that the Ministry of Labour administers the payments through the NISSS, which distributes the funds once they are transferred from the central government.

Jordan stressed that strict safeguards remain in place to ensure that the National Insurance Fund, which consists of worker contributions, remains separate from government funds used to finance the allowance.

“We have been careful because we recognise the responsibility we have to the funds contributed by workers to the National Insurance Fund to make sure that there is absolute separation between the funds from central government and the funds from the National Insurance Fund,” he said.

The minister added that delays would generally relate to the timing of transfers from central government.

“As a result, we make our payments once we have the funding from central government, and if there is any delay at all then it will pass through,” he said.

But he stressed that even a small number of outstanding payments remained a concern.

“There are small numbers of people but we understand that even if there were one or two, those one or two people are entitled… they should have their funds,” Jordan said. “As the intermediary we will continue to work as hard as we can… we know who those persons are, and that we have the funds to be able to transfer the payments.”

The government announced the one-off, tax-free $300 Solidarity Allowance in 2025 after stronger-than-expected corporate tax revenues for 2024. The measure formed part of an initiative to share the fiscal gains with citizens.

Under the programme, all citizens over 18 who contributed to the NISSS during the previous year qualified for the payment. National Insurance contributory pensioners, non-contributory pensioners including those receiving the Special Needs Grant, persons receiving invalidity benefits, and welfare clients also qualified.

Payments began last May 14, for individuals whose banking information had already been registered. By the end of that month,  $44.6m had already been distributed to more than 149 000 people, with systems in place to process the remaining payments once eligible recipients updated their information with the NISSS, according to finance minister Ryan Straughn.