by Linda Straker
- Public Sector Employees Pension Fund 2024 came into effect on 1 January 2025
- Depending on salary earned, each worker will pay either 3% or 6% of monthly earnings to fund
- From end of January 2025, employees of 9 statutory bodies, unestablished and contract government workers began contributing to new pension fund
Employees of 9 statutory bodies, along with the unestablished and contract government workers, began contributing to the new pension fund as of the end of January 2025.
Government made an amendment to the list of statutory bodies that will be affected by The Public Sector Employees Pension Fund Bill 2024, which came into effect on 1 January 2025, according to the Commencement Order as published in an extraordinary publication of the Government Gazette on 30 December.
In the original legislation, besides public officers, only the employees of the Grenada Food and Nutrition Council (GFNC), the Grenada Tourism Authority (GTA), the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the Child Protection Authority (CPA), and the Financial Complex Limited were listed in the schedule.
However, Members of the Lower House approved a resolution to include employees of the Grenada Cultural Foundation (GCF), the Grenada National Stadium Authority, the Planning and Development Authority and T A Marryshow Community College (TAMCC) during the 28 January 2025 sitting.
Approximately 4,500 government employees are expected to become account holders of the new pension plan because they are not qualified to receive a pension under the 1958 legislation. Both Houses of Parliament approved the Public Sector Employees (Pension Fund) Bill, 2024 last December. “This bill seeks to establish a contributory pension scheme for public sector employees; to provide for the establishment of a fund from which the payment of pensions, gratuities and other allowances are to be paid to such employees; to provide for the establishment of a Board of Trustees to manage and administer the Fund, and to provide for other related matters.”
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, who is the Minister for Public Administration, said that more statutory bodies will be included in the future and that Government will be taking care of the administrative cost of the fund for the first 5 years.
Depending on the salary earned, each worker will pay the fund either 3% or 6% of monthly earnings. Lyndonna Hillaire-Marshall, Permanent Secretary in the Department of Public Administration, disclosed in late January that Government has begun deducting contributions from public officers who fulfill the criteria to be account holders of the new pension fund. However, the January contribution was not split in 2 to coincide with bi-monthly payments; it was a one-time payment at the end of January. Hillaire-Marshall said bi-monthly payments would start in February.
