SOCIAL SECURITY FIVE----13th July 2006
Comply or Be Denied
Good day Radio listeners and welcome to another edition of, “Social Security Five”. I am Chesil Hamilton, your presenter for today.
On July 1st 1996, self-employed coverage was introduced as part of the Social Security Fund of St. Kitts and Nevis. Therefore in 2006, we are observing the tenth Anniversary of the coverage.
While we at Social Security are proud of the benefits that are being offered to self-employed persons, we are also mindful of the fact that there are several persons who are not taking advantage of the various benefits.
As we know, Social Security is mandatory. Every person must be covered. The difficulty with self-employed persons is that they do not have an employer to deduct contributions from their income and make full contributions on their behalf. Self-employed persons are required to do that for themselves. This requires discipline, but it also requires a willingness to obey the law.
Social Security has two options available whereby it can encourage persons to comply. Firstly, Social Security can take direct legal action against someone who fails to comply. This is the same type of action that Social Security can take against an employer who is required to pay contributions on behalf of his/her employee.
However, there is also the option of invoking the provision in the Regulations (Regulation 17 of the Self-employment Regulations) that says that if a self-employed person fails to pay contributions when required, Social Security will simply deny that person access to an Assistance Pension if that person claims that Assistance later on in life.
The Social Security Fund pays Assistance to two categories of persons. Firstly, there are those who are between the ages of 16 and 62 years old who are incapable of work and who are in need but do not qualify for Invalidity Benefit based on contributions made. That is called Invalidity Assistance. Then there are those who are over the age of 62 years old and have not qualified for Age Pension based on contributions made, have no secure source of income, but are in need. That is called simply Assistance Pension.
In either scenario, the “comply or be denied” provision will be invoked by Social Security if persons who apply are shown to have failed to honour their obligations at an earlier time when they were self-employed.
A specific procedure has been developed to give effect to this policy. This is mainly carried out by the Compliance Department.
Whenever an Inspector or other officer approaches a self-employed person and advises him or her to register, and to pay contributions, that Inspector or other officer creates a record of that contact and keeps it on a file. Any other contact with that person is recorded on the said file. If it turns out that the person refuses or fails to comply and no other action is taken, Social Security will then resort to that file later on if that same person shows up and applies for Assistance Pension. In the mean time, Inspectors will continue to appeal to that person at every available opportunity in the hope that they will make good on their obligations.
At the same time that the forewarning is being given, Social Security is emphasizing the many timely and substantial benefits that are available to self-employed persons who are contributing to the Fund. They are entitled to similar benefits as employees with the only exception being injury benefits. The consolation in regard to the unavailability of Injury Benefits is that the self-employed person who gets injured on the job will be entitled to receive Sickness Benefit for relevant periods of being unable to work.
The Board is also reminding all self-employed persons that since the inception of the coverage, benefits been paid out to persons in the sector are approaching the half million dollar mark. An additional fact is that with the passage of ten years, it is now possible for someone who had started paying contributions in 1996 to qualify for a pension from purely self-employed contributions.
If you would like to get more information about the Comply or be denied policy you may contact your offices in Basseterre, St. Kitts and Charlestown, Nevis.
That’s all we have time for today on Social Security Five. Until we come your way again, this is Chesil Hamilton your host for today saying We Keep Looking Up For Your Benefits. So long.
