Gov't moving towards direct deposit pension payments

Persons receiving retirement pension payments under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) will soon be required to have a bank account.

NIS Director Portia Magnus told JIS News that the plan is to have all NIS pensioners receiving their funds through direct deposits into their accounts.

“That is where we will be going,” she said.

“Gradually we are shifting. The government is moving more and more from paper, which is time-consuming and costly and going more electronic, and so, overtime, you will see that the pension order books are going to be phased out,” she points out.

Persons now receive their benefits through the pension order book, a cheque, bank draft and direct deposit to a bank account.

Magnus said that once the resources are in place the Ministry of Labour and Social Security will implement direct deposit on a wider scale to existing pensioners.

“So, already on the new application form, persons are required to provide their banking information,” she points out.

For the pension order book, persons receive a voucher/cheque book with 13 leafs.

“Each voucher is predated and it’s two weeks apart. So you can encash a voucher every two weeks, or as you feel, because they actually become dated after six months like a cheque. But the date is every two weeks,” Ms. Magnus explains.

For the direct payments into the bank accounts, she points out that the regular payment is usually on the 15th of the month, “so you get one amount every month in the middle of the month.”

Pensioners who want the option to receive their payments through their bank accounts can do so by completing a Direct Deposit Form available at the Ministry 's parish offices or downloading the form from the Ministry’s website www.mlss.gov.jm.

We want to hear from you! Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169, email us at editors@gleanerjm.com or onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.