NIS must drastically improve services to contributors – Finance Minister to management

…tells staff “…when you get to 60, you think you want to hear any excuse…?”

On the occasion of the National Insurance Scheme’s (NIS) 53rd Anniversary, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh read the riot act to the agency and impressed on them the need for them to drastically improve their services for every participant.
There have been successes in the scheme’s operations, which Dr Singh drew reference to with one such success being the reduction of 14,000 pending claims that the Government inherited in 2020. Since then, over 12,000 claims have been addressed.

But notwithstanding the progress made, Singh noted that much more remains to be done and that NIS needs to further improve its services and to ensure that employees receive their yearly statements of contribution.
In fact, Dr Singh added that every single contributor should be receiving these statements yearly. He also sounded a warning to employers that fail to hand over NIS deductions to the scheme, noting that this is a criminal matter, while urging them to treat the concerns of pensioners and contributors with the alacrity they deserve.
“Because the NIS was conceived then (in 1969) as it remains today the preeminent national institution to provide for those who are unable to work, for medical insurance and for the sick and the elderly and to provide for those who exit employment.”
“This is the institution in which you are today’s cohort managing and so when a pensioner comes into an NIS office, we have a longstanding obligation to serve them in a particular manner driven by the high ideals of public service,” he reiterated.
The reduction of the NIS backlog was a priority of the Government when it assumed office in 2020, as well as addressing the complaints that were received from contributors to the Scheme. It is because of this backlog that the Government at Cabinet level, undertook a series of nationwide outreach sessions to take NIS services to contributors.
A total of 12 sessions were held in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and 10, with over 1500 persons across the country benefitting from these sessions. In fact, many of them received their Old Age Pension after waiting for a number of years. According to the Finance Minister, the untimely waiting for pensions is something that must be stamped out.
“Everyone has a legitimate expectation to get their pension on time and to get every single one of them. And you have to put yourself in their shoes. When you get to 60, you think you want to hear any excuse about somebody can’t find some file? Go to Camp Street, go to Hadfield Street, come back to Brickdam. They got their records in Rose Hall?”
“You are 60 years old. There are people who face that every day. They go Rose Hall, they say their thing at New Amsterdam. They go New Amsterdam, they say you gotta check Camp Street. You go Camp Street, they say no they don’t deal with that, go Brickdam. None of us in this room would find it acceptable to be treated in that manner. And we must not treat anyone in that manner.”
According to the Finance Minister, there are well established protocols to escalate matters. If the clerk cannot handle the matter, then it is to be referred to the manager. He noted that if the local office manager cannot resolve it, then it is to be referred to the area manager and, in that instance, if the matter is still not resolved, then a report must be done and presented to the General Manager.
“If the General Manager does not have the authority, she escalates it to the Board of Directors. If it is an extremely peculiar matter that cannot be resolved by the Board of Directors, it will end up with a Board of Appeal or National Insurance Commissioner or in a rare case, for my consideration,” he said.
Dr Singh noted that while the NIS officers might understand the technicalities and the rules, all the public wants to know is when they’re getting their pensions. According to the Minister, the Government “expects a rapid improvement in the quality of service provided by the NIS.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the NIS, Ramesh Persaud also speaking at the event encouraged staff to continue to work diligently as “the work done today would impact someone in the next fifty years”.
He also alluded to the Strategic Plan to be implemented by the NIS which will address several areas including repairing the public perception of NIS, increasing its operational efficiency and dealing with backlogged cases and appeals.-