KINGSTON, Jamaica — Applications for Compassionate Grants under the COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) programme will close at 5:01 pm today, April 16, the Ministry of Finance and Public Service disclosed in a news release.

As at 2:00 pm today, the ministry said the CARE programme received a total of 388,775 applications for the Compassionate Grants.

The CARE team said it will now begin the process of validating the applications for Compassionate Grants, in order to be able to make payments within 30 days.

The ministry noted that prior to payment of the Compassionate Grants, the following verification is required: (i) the bank account submitted needs to be confirmed as a valid bank account in the name of the applicant, (ii) the applicant is not formally employed as verified by Tax Administration of Jamaica and (iii) the applicant has not applied for another benefit under the CARE programme.

The application window for other grants under the CARE programme remains open.

“We are heartened by the overwhelming response to the CARE programme thus far and to the Compassionate Grants, in particular, and will now move on to the processing of applications for payment,” the ministry said.

The CARE programme is the Government’s fiscal intervention programme designed to cushion the adverse economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on resident Jamaican individuals and small businesses.