by Linda Straker
- Only established workers serving state for 27 years entitled to receive Government pension
- Approximately 3,000 contract employees and other trainees in public service do not have Government pension
- Each contracted employee and Government make contribute to new pension scheme
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has disclosed that Government will enact legislation to create a transferable pension scheme for people who are contracted to work as public servants or in public service positions.
Speaking at a townhall meeting in St Patrick on 10 June, he said there are approximately 3,000 contract employees and other trainees in the public service who do not have any pension from the Government of Grenada. Should their status remain like that, they will retire without a government pension.
Government is holding a series of townhall meetings to mark the 2nd anniversary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) winning the 2022 General Elections and administering the affairs of the country.
“We have committed that come the first of October we will be going to the Parliament to enact legislation to create a new pension scheme for these workers to ensure that they have the opportunity to have a pension,” the Prime Minister said. “We cannot continue in a situation where you have 3,000 people who don’t have pension because when they retire what will happen to them? So, we must create a system that will allow them to get a pension.”
However, it is mandated in the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) law that all employees must contribute to NIS to ensure that a pension is paid to them at the end of the month after retirement.
The Prime Minister explained that the new pension scheme for contracted public officers will be one in which each contracted employee and Government makes a contribution. “We are saying anyone who is hired by the government thereafter has to come on to the pension system where they contribute, the government contributes and when you retire you can have your contribution.”
“If you move from the Government to the private sector, you could take your pension with you. If you want to exit the government service you can get the contributions you have made,” he told the meeting. “The pension policy framework has been approved by the Cabinet. The consultants have done extensive work. We have submitted this to the Attorney General’s chambers; we are waiting on the draftsmen and women there to provide the draft legislation to us,” he said, informing the meeting that Government has allocated the sum to pay to the pension for the last quarter of 2024.
Prime Minister Mitchell said that the new pension scheme going into effect that will begin the process of abolishing the process between contract for services and contract in service workers because at the end of the day, they are all employees of Government.
Within the public service, only established workers serving the state for 27 years are entitled to receive Government pension. The Prime Minister told the meeting that the new pension scheme will not affect established workers who have their pension established by the constitution.
“We are not interfering with you. You have your pension, we restored it, we paid it, we paid retroactive and we will continue to pay, but that is a pension that you do not contribute to. That is a pension that is funded entirely by the taxpayers of this country.”
