Digitisation to reduce pension pains

 

Getting pensions paid after retirement is not as seamless as both Government of Jamaica and pensioners would like. Many public sector retirees wait years or suffer from payment glitches which leave them out of pocket, while they pursue a settlement process beset by red tape.

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service indicated on January 2, 2025, that it has made significant strides in the digitisation of pensions administration.

The digitisation initiative aims to ensure a seamless and efficient retirement transition for public sector workers while maintaining the sustainability of pension arrangements.

Currently, the Accountant General’s Department Pensions Unit administers and processes pension payments for more than 33,000 Government Pensioners.

Speaking recently with JIS News, Strategic Planning and Stakeholder Engagement Manager in the Ministry, Dr. Kimorley Humphrey, who deals specifically with the Pensions Administration Branch, explained that the digitisation process, which began in 2018, is advanced.

The Pensions Administration Branch oversees pension arrangements across Government agencies and statutory bodies to ensure sustainability and guarantee employee benefits.

The Accountant General’s Department (AGD) has the responsibility for the pension administration. The change is due to the GOJ’s strategic objective of strengthening Public Financial Management within the Public Sector; to achieve this objective, the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service made the decision to streamline the payment of Pension, making the AGD the sole paying authority of government pensions across all sections of the GOJ in keeping with the Pensions (Public Service) Act of 2017. This change currently does not extend to Local Authorities (Municipal Corporations) which still make their own pension payments on behalf of the GOJ to its retirees.

There are four main changes that will differentiate the AGD’s pension administration from that of Statutory Bodies. Firstly, the date of pension payment for pensioners from Statutory Bodies would generally be paid out fortnightly, however the AGD pays pension salary on the 25th of each month; unless the 25th falls on a Monday or Friday or weekend, pensioners would receive pension payment on the preceding Thursday.

Secondly, the AGD does not facilitate deductions such as Bank Loans, NIS or NHT be directly deducted from the pension. The only deduction the will be taken from the pension payment is Sagicor health, pensioner’s association membership, and income tax if earnings are over the prescribed tax threshold.

One requirement is the submission of quarterly life certificates. Although most pensioners are accustomed to submitting a Life Certificate to their statutory body, the AGD’s process differs, to a small extent, from what you may be familiar with.

The AGD Life Certificate is an official barcoded document used to verify a pensioner’s living status; it is the primary document used to make monthly pension payments. Your life certificate has a life span of three months and it must be completed and returned on a quarterly basis. In a total of (4) four times for the year, the certificate must be returned for the periods January 31st, April 30th, July 31st, and October 31st.

The AGD also facilitates overseas payments to pensioners who have migrated and are citizens or permanent residents. Once you are of a legal or permanent resident in your country of preference, you are required to provide the AGD with a notarized letter / completed application form requesting to be paid overseas as well as a proof of residency.

Proof of residency can either be the Biographical Page of Passport, Permanent Resident Card or Nationalization Card. Once documents are going to be delivered through the postal services they must be copied and notarized.

Dr. Humphrey told JIS News, “The Ministry has worked in incremental phases to modernise systems and streamline pension processing. Digitising the pensions administration process is part of our strategy to ensure efficiency and accessibility for our public sector workers. We are leveraging best practices to make the retirement transition smoother,” he said.

“We…monitor these pension arrangements to ensure that the pension plan is sustainable and prevent the plan from getting into a deficit. We provide that oversight to ensure that public sector employees are guaranteed their pension into life after work,” Dr. Humphrey said.



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