Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme starts in March
ST JAMES Jamaica — Workers in the tourism sector will be able to fully register in a pension scheme starting in March 2020, Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett says.
The Tourism Workers Pension Scheme is designed to cover all workers ages 18-59 years in the tourism sector, whether permanent, contract or self-employed. This includes hotel workers, as well as peiole employed in related industries such as craft vendors, tour operators, red cap porters, contract carriage operators and workers at attractions, the tourism ministry outlined.
“This landmark social legislation will change the social security arrangements for all workers in the sector who will have a guaranteed pension when they retire,” Bartlett said at a sensitisation session at the Grand Palladium Jamaica Resort & Spa in Hanover yesterday.
“I am pleased that based on our timelines to get everything in place, by March, workers will be able to register for the scheme and begin to contribute to their own retirement,” he added.
The ministry said that the pension scheme is now in effect and is managed by a Board of Trustees which is currently in the process of finalising the negotiations for an Investment Manager and a Fund Administrator to manage the operations of the scheme.
The scheme is also tax exempt and regulated by the Financial Services Commission, the ministry added.
The ministry said that it is in the process of developing regulations for the Act, which also provides for an augmented pension. Augmented pension beneficiaries will be people who joined the scheme at 59 years old and would not have saved enough for a pension. With the ministry’s injection of $1 billion to augment the fund, these people will qualify for a minimum pension.
“We felt the need to find a solution for those workers who would have contributed for only five years but deserve the guarantee of a pension at retirement. So once the Investment Manager has been appointed, $250 million out of the $1 billion from the ministry’s injection will be disbursed to seed the fund to ensure these workers have a pension,” Bartlett said.