Government retables Public Sector Pension Bill
The Bill to formalise proposals to reform arrangements for Jamaica’s new public sector pension scheme has been retabled in the House of Representatives.
This is in keeping with an assurance given in May by Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw that the Administration is seeking to implement the revised pension scheme no later than April 17, 2017.
The new pension benefit system is one of the structural benchmarks, set out under the Government’s current Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which expires next year.
The Bill, which was originally tabled in the House last November, was withdrawn and reviewed by the new government to determine if additional changes were needed.
It proposes, among other things, that Government workers contribute five percent of their salary towards their pension, commencing on a date to be determined by Cabinet. It also proposes that benefits be computed using an average of the final five years of the beneficiary’s salary, instead of the final pay as now obtains. Additionally, retirees would be given the option of receiving one quarter of their entitlements with reduced or full pension benefits.
The current Bill also seeks to: establish a segregated fund for contributions at a time to be determined; gradually increase the retirement age to 65; and harmonise legislation governing public sector pension into a single statute.
Its “Memorandum of Objects and Reasons” state that consequential changes will also be made to relevant pension provisions in several pieces of legislation.