New applications for COVID grants to close on June 13
Published:Wednesday | June 9, 2021 | 5:05 PM
New applications for the Supporting Employees with the Transfer of Cash (SET Cash) and the Business Employee Support and Transfer of Cash (BEST Cash) initiatives will close on Sunday, June 13.
This was disclosed by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke, during a statement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.
The SET Cash grant, which provides unemployment support grants for those persons who earned at or below the income-tax threshold of $1.5 million and have been unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic from all sectors, and the BEST Cash grant, which supports tourism employment, were renewed with respect to the period April to June 2021.
Some $3 billion has been set aside in the 2021/2022 budget for this.
“The period for new applications for these two components will close on June 13, 2021, and advertisements to this effect have been in the public domain for the past few weeks,” Clarke said.
“All existing applicants who were already in receipt of payments under the SET and BEST Cash will not need to reapply for the period April to June 2021 and will qualify for an $18,000 monthly payment if ruled eligible, in keeping with the originally defined criteria,” he added.
The finance minister informed that there are approximately 40,000 existing SET Cash beneficiaries and approximately 15,000 BEST Cash beneficiaries.
“We expect all applicants with respect for the months of April, May, and June, for those payments to begin at the end of June,” Clarke said.
“So, under the Social and Economic Recovery and Vaccine Programme for Jamaica (SERVE) we expect approximately 55,000 Jamaicans to be in receipt of their SET Cash and BEST Cash grants of $18,000 per month in respect of the period April to June 2021, which will be paid in the months of June, July and August of 2021. We expect this to cost in the region of $3 billion,” he
Clarke said the final numbers will depend on meeting the qualifying criteria in April, May, and June, that is, not be on a payroll, evidence of being employed prior to March 2020 where income was less than $1.5 million and other criteria as previously advertised.
- JIS News
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