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The National Insurance Board Press Release on Unemployment Benefit

The National Insurance Board Press Release on Unemployment Benefit

3/4/2010 7:43:45 AM
Prime Minister the Right Honourable Hubert Ingraham this week approved the request from the National Insurance Board (NIB), to close out the interim phase and begin the next, permanent phase of the Unemployment Benefit with effect from June 1, 2010. His authorization is in accordance with the Unemployment Benefit Regulations which allow for the Minister with responsibility for National Insurance to advise on the effective date of the permanent phase of the approved program. This new phase will afford unemployed workers the same level of coverage and benefit provisions as the interim phase, but with different qualifying conditions, and a modest increase in contributions.

In April, 2009, the National Insurance Board (NIB) introduced the interim phase of the Unemployment Benefit, bringing to 10 the number of income-replacing benefits that replace a portion of wages lost when contributors to National Insurance lose employment income for specified reasons. At December 31, 2009, NIB had paid out unemployment benefits nationwide to 14,071 Bahamians, totaling some $20.833 million. During the initial design, NIB recognized the prevailing economic conditions and its impact on the unemployment levels in The Bahamas, and so designed liberal eligibility conditions – including contribution requirements – for the first phase. The intent was to help ease the financial burden of as many unemployed workers as possible. There was no adjustment to the NIB contribution rate.

The permanent phase of Unemployment Benefit requires an adjustment in contributions, and so, on June 1, 2010 – for the first time in the 35-year existence of the National Insurance programme – the rate of contributions will be increased by 1% – one half percent (.50%) to be paid by the employer, and one-half percent (.50) to be paid by the employee. This means that the current rate of 8.8%, shared 5.4% for employer and 3.4% for employee, will change to 9.8%, shared 5.9% for employer, and 3.9% for employee. This translates to a maximum weekly increase of $2 for the employer and $2 for the employee; though relatively slight, this increase represents a further strengthening of our social security safety net.

Additionally, the contribution conditions that must be satisfied to qualify for Unemployment Benefit will change. In this permanent phase, a claimant must have paid at least 52 contributions to National Insurance in his work life. In addition, he must have paid and/or been credited with 13 contributions in the 26 weeks immediately before the week unemployment began, and he must have paid and/or been credited with seven contributions in the 13 weeks immediately before the week unemployment began.

As in Phase I, the benefit will be paid at a rate of 50% of the average insurable income for up to 13-weeks. Cheques will be paid every two weeks.

Leading up to the implementation of the permanent phase of the Unemployment Benefit, NIB will continue to keep the public informed through its ongoing public relations initiatives.
Comments (3) Add Comment Add Comment
Posted By: Mrs. Knowles on 4/22/2010 6:39:36 AM
It is been said that the Unemployment Benefit has been extended beyond 13 weeks. Kindly confirm.
Posted By: Ms. Williams on 5/4/2010 4:59:30 PM
If you have already received unemployment benefits and after the 13 weeks you were not able to find a job and are still unemployed up to now, can you re-apply for the unemployment benefit? If so, how long after receiving benefit can you apply?
Posted By: Marisa on 5/14/2010 3:59:12 PM
I was wondering if you can receive the second phase off the unemployment benefit if you already receive the first phase of it. If you are still unemployed
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The National Insurance Board (NIB) wishes to address and correct “facts” advanced by the Nassau Institute in a letter to the Editor, published in the Nassau Guardian of Saturday, September 19, 2009, and referenced in a Tribune article on September 21, 2009. In that letter, the Nassau Institute incorrectly suggested that National Insurance is proposing an 84.1% increase in taxes
On September 2, 2009, Prime Minister the Right Honourable Hubert Ingraham, tabled in the House of Assembly the report of the 8th Actuarial Review of the National Insurance Fund, which was completed and formally presented to Government in 2008. The Report, which covers a review period from January 2002 to December 2006, gives a comprehensive assessment of the current and future finances of the National Insurance Fund, and reviews the state of the country’s primary social security system from a social standpoint, assessing the adequacy and relevance of the level of benefits now offered. The Review, like all others prior to it, makes recommendations designed to strengthen both the social and financial aspects of the Fund to ensure that National Insurance is able to meet its obligations well into the future. It takes a historical look at past trends and experiences as well as makes financial forecasts for the future. Demographic and financial projections up to 2066 have been presented.
A “business person in Fox Hill” suggested in a letter to the Editor (What’s Going on at NIB? – Tribune 23/09), that with the recent move of Inspectors from the National Insurance Board’s Fox Hill Local Office to its Jumbey Village Local Office in the Clifford Darling Complex, the Board’s operations in Fox Hill will close down. According to Greg Collie, Senior Manager for Compliance with responsibility for the Inspectorate, nothing could be further from the truth. He said the Fox Hill Local Office is not closing down.
Response to Tribune article
4/9/2009 12:00:00 AM
Derek Osborne, Consultant Actuary at the National Insurance Board is advising the public that though the 8th Actuarial Review of the National Insurance Fund, which includes long-term projections of the Fund and recommendations aimed at enhancing the Fund’s long-term sustainability as well as its ongoing relevance, has been completed, it has not yet been tabled in Parliament as is required by law.
Algernon Cargill, Director of the National Insurance Board (NIB) is responding to a Tribune article (March 12, 2009) that suggested that members of the business community are in a state of “enormous consternation” over the Board’s current and ongoing process of updating its contribution records. Though NIB has addressed this issue in the recent past, the NIB Director wishes to say once again that the Board is obligated by the National Insurance Act to ensure that all employers have paid the amount of contributions due for each employee for each month, and that contributions submitted are accurately posted or deposited to the accounts of the appropriate employees.
NIB Compliance Press Release
3/11/2009 12:00:00 AM
As was reported in the local media recently, the National Insurance Board (NIB) is increasing its review of the contribution accounts of delinquent employers and self-employed persons in order to ensure compliance with the National Insurance Act (the Act).