Enill eyes creation of pension wealth

Revealing that Government was working assiduously towards ensuring continued and improved social security through pension reform, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Conrad Enill, yesterday issued a challenge to the CARICOM heads of Social Security to examine the topic of wealth creation through pension schemes. This would be in keeping with Government’s aim of establishing a model pension system, so persons could look to the future without much worry Enill claimed. The challenge was issued at the 15th meeting of the heads of National Insurance Systems in the CARICOM area, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, yesterday.

Stating that CARICOM has been moving rapidly to deepen the process of regional integration, and the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) by December 2004, Enill said the launching of the CSME’s Unit two Fridays ago was evidence that the process of integration was well underway. In TT,  the working population is covered by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), more than 200 fully-funded private occupational pension plans, and a network of un-funded Public Service pension arrangements. The NIS, as in many other jurisdictions, is mandatory for all employed persons and is funded through a combination of contributions from the employer and employee — a formula which has not always proven easy to change and which has led to the financial weakening of the system. However, Enill said this area could be used to address the issue of wealth creation.

Benefits under the NIS have recently been improved to include a minimum level of benefit payments to employees who have retired. This includes, since October 2003, a minimum pension of $1,000 per month; a 100 percent increase in the payment of maternity and funeral grants; a minimum monthly Child Allowance of $320; and an average increase of 24 percent in all other benefits. He congratulated the National Insurance Board (NIB) for its insistence that individuals who can no longer work to support themselves should be provided with a certain degree of financial security, adding that the minimum pension provided by the NIS allowed persons to maintain a minimum standard of living.