By Elvin Bailey
I have come to accept that in life, we develop habits which seem innocuous, but which annoy the people with whom we come in contact. I have also come to accept that it takes a real friend to point out this behaviour and to help overcome them. As your friend therefore, I wish to point out a few of these habits that Social Security encounters within its clients. The intention is that this exposure would lead to greater understanding on both sides of the counter and help us all to change our ways. Here goes:-
Late payment of workers. This often happens when a worker begins a job – say, in mid January - but is not paid until the February payday. This can cause a loss of contribution weeks, and contribution weeks are critical to the accumulation of pension points, and pension points are one of the factors that determine your age benefit. This situation may also cause the IP to fall in a false bracket, and be subjected to incorrect deductions. For example, if the wage was $4500.00 per month in the case stated earlier, then $6,750.00 would be reported in February. Without an explanation, this would be interpreted as $6,500 subject to social security deductions and the 3.5% levy; and $250 not subject to Social Security deductions but subject to 10% levy. Of course the correct thing would be for $2250 in January and $4500 in February to be subjected to social security contributions and 3.5% levy. The difference is 6 contributions instead of 4; deductions (for levy &contributions) of $573.75 vs $577.50. This is one of the reasons why insured persons must check on their statements periodically.
Wrong name. This applies to situations where an applicant fails to give all names, including any aliases that he may have. I had a situation once of leading a delegation on an overseas mission. One member of the team confirmed that her name was Mary Tuitt. Everybody in the village knew her by that name; and so reservations were made in that name. When we arrived at the airport on the appointed day, her passport identified her as Ann F. Weekes! She was not allowed to travel. If that was her social security registration, the most appropriate action would have been to record “Ann F Weekes also known as Mary Tuitt”. That way, there would be no error. Now do you understand why we encourage persons to give their full names and any aliases upon registration, and demand that a valid passport or birth certificate be supplied? Do you think Ann would be able to change Mary’s pension cheque in today’s banking environment?
Incorrect addresses. I have a habit of looking in the ‘not known’ board at the post office. There I often encounter letters to Insured Persons that have not been delivered – they are easily recognizable by the envelope with the SS logo. It is a wasted cost to send out a letter and have it returned. By law, we are only required to send letters to your last known address, and the last known address for many persons in our system is the one which was provided upon registration when they were 16 to 18 years old. Besides, people never seem to bother to provide the post office with a forwarding address. It is costly to us to process and post letters and have them returned; it is costly to you to not update your data, and that is probably why there are so many uncollected benefit payments still at our offices. I believe I have made the point! And remember to always quote your unique social security number on all your letters to the Director.
Incomplete forms. At Social Security, we have a form for everything; and some of them are colour coded. These forms standardize the information collected and make it easier for the sorting and processing of claims. It is important that each appropriate question on the form be completed, even if the response is to place an N.A.; meaning not applicable. This is particularly true for those forms associated with the benefit side. “Are you in receipt of any other benefit from Social Security?” MUST be answered in order for the final processing to take place. We hereby appeal to all Notary Publics, Justices of the peace, Responsible Citizens, Principals – whoever certifies that the information is correct - not to affix your signature to an incomplete form, because an incomplete form is an incorrect form.
Third party requests. The Social Security Act warns, under penalty of prosecution about divulging information to third parties, even to dependents and employers. If you intend to make a third party request, bring proper authorization. Quarreling will certainly not help!
Feigned ignorance. The office hours of Social Security are 8:15 am to 4:15 pm, with no lunch time closure. However, the Cashier hours are 8:30 am to 3:00 pm, again with no lunch time closure. There is respect for the hours of financial institutions, probably because of the lock-out, but we continue to serve the public – and the public have a habit of taking advantage of that. We appeal to you, if you must rush in after the cashier closes, bring a cheque, preferably a certified draft. We have been in operation for too long for persons to still claim ignorance of our working hours. This is why there is a deposit box on St Kitts for non-cash transactions and we are working on the installation of a box on Nevis.
Un-informed comments: instead of asking for information from source about developments such as Beacon Heights, some are spreading rumours about the worth of the houses, and questioning the ‘right’ of Social Security to invest in this type of development. The truth is that Beacon Heights is for the middle to upper income earners, and will showcase parks, gardens, a fully contained commercial area and luxury homes. Utility infrastructure will be underground and thus will not interfere with the panorama that the area offers. But of greater significance is that Beacon Heights allows your Social Security to tap into a very lucrative real estate market that will allow it to make even more investments in affordable housing while keeping the contribution rate steady.
While I may be a bit concerned about some of your interesting habits and practices, Social Security is nevertheless always happy to hear from you. What are your pet peeves about us? “Wall” it on facebook or use our suggestion box. Tell us so we can become better at serving you. We are aiming to provide world class customer service!
