NIS pension to now be paid 1st working day of every month – Finance Minister

The Finance Ministry has announced that starting in July, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) pension payments will now be paid from the first working day of every month to align with Old Age Pension (OAP) payments.
This move was taken by the Guyana Government in keeping with a commitment made by President Dr Irfaan Ali during an interaction with a pensioner on Tuesday in Lamaha Gardens, Georgetown.
“Leadership is about listening…I was doing a walkabout in Lamaha Gardens and a pensioner came to me and suggested that NIS and old age pension should be paid on the same day. We listened and we acted,” the Head of State said in a subsequent post on his Facebook page.
Consequently, Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, disclosed that he has instructed that the NIS pension be paid, effective from July 2023, on the first business day of every month.
“This is part of Government’s broader agenda to improve, modernise and streamline its service-delivery to citizens,” Dr Singh stated.
Since coming into office, the Ali-led People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) has undertaken a slew of measures to date to enhance the operations of the NIS. These include NIS Online Contribution Checking System (OCCS) which is expected to reduce the incidents of inaccuracies, the WhatsApp life certificate hotline, WhatsApp Queries Textbook Service and NIS Live Chat.
Currently, NIS payments are made via the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), commercial banks and at NIS local offices countrywide. Other payment options are currently being considered by Government.
Government recently expanded the payment options for OAP to include Mobile Money Guyana (MMG). This adds to the existing options of the GPOC, MoneyGram, Western Union, Sure Pay and commercial banks.
A priority of the Government when it assumed office in 2020 was to address the complaints received from contributors to the NIS.
In support of this effort, the Government, at Cabinet level, undertook a series of nationwide outreach sessions that took the services of NIS to the citizens. Persons across the country have benefited from these sessions, many of whom are now in receipt of OAP after waiting for a number of years.
“Government remains committed to improving the quality of service it provides to contributors and pensioners,” the Finance Minister said.
During the presentation of Budget 2023 in January, Minister Singh commended the NIS and its Board for the large reduction in pending NIS claims.
As of August 2020, the backlog of claims outstanding and on query was 20,106. The Finance Minister disclosed that as of December 2022, the backlog was reduced to 10,902. Further, of the 1,362,734 suspended and invalid numbers existing in the database, the Scheme was able to resolve 1,103,835 during 2022. The NIS has historically been the provider of social security when earnings are interrupted by illness or accident, for exceptional expenses related to birth or death, and for retirement by age. In fact, for many pensioners, the NIS pension is their only source of income.
According to the Minister, it is for these reasons that the efficiency of the operation of the Scheme is critical because in many instances lives, health, and wellness are dependent on this source of income.
He had pointed out that Government has been proactive in its support of the agency and has in the immediate term urged the newly-appointed Board of the Scheme to prioritise: resolving the inherited backlog of long-outstanding matters; addressing the deficiencies in the systems within the Scheme; and implementing programmes to improve compliance by delinquent employers to protect the interests of all working people.
Nevertheless, in addition to reducing the backlog, the NIS operationalised the connection for electronic transfers into the national payment system architecture in October 2022. This has resulted in 750 pensioners being paid directly via their bank account at one commercial bank.
“It is anticipated that this will be expanded to cover all commercial banks during 2023, thereby enabling thousands of pensioners to be paid directly into their bank account. In addition, the use of WhatsApp to make claims and submit video styled life certificate validations served to reduce the need for travel to the NIS office,” Dr Singh had noted.
The Finance Minister had further disclosed that compliance campaigns and expanded outreaches would continue to be an active strategy to ensure that both employers and workers were educated on their benefits from joining the Scheme. This is especially critical given that the financial viability of the Scheme has, over the years, depended primarily on the contributors’ payments.
Notwithstanding, Minister Singh had posited that medium-and longer-term solutions, most importantly, continue to be actively examined with a view to ensuring the long-term viability of the NIS. (G8)