By Elvin Bailey
There are those who believe in the adage that a chain is as strong as its weakest link. They are the ones who go about searching for weaknesses. At Social Security, we say that a chain is as weak as the strongest link and go about identifying strengths to make them stronger. It is the old perspective debate: is the glass half empty or half full? To be accurate, our glass is more than three quarters full and still being filled up, but the rate at which it is being filled is slowing down. That is why we must focus on our strengths and make them better! In this regard, this article examines our strengths.
In the first quarter of 2009, in February to be exact, we celebrated the attainment of EC$1,000,000,000 (one billion dollars) of assets. This success was attained with contribution income of $901,752,000 from inception to April 30th; an investment portfolio that yielded $554,485,100 in interest over the years, again up to April 30th; and land and property that we have invested in. Strong chain links.
But it has not only been about collecting your money and investing it wisely. We have, during our 31 years of existence, re-injected $350,000,000.00 (up to April ’09) back into the economy through benefit payments, through approximately $10 million in donations to worthy causes (including to Health and to Education); and 104 job opportunities. Again, strong chain links.
Over the last five years, the actual contributions collected have grown each year, reaching approximately EC$69million in 2008. It is becoming harder and harder to increase collections each year, but this simply means that we have increased our coverage to the point that almost every body is covered. That is a measure of our efficiency! Another strong link!
For the corresponding five year period, we saw benefits payments increasing each year when compared to the previous year. For the 2007/2008 comparison to 2007 we paid $3.3million more in 2008 than we did in 2007, but received only EC$3.1million more in contributions. Where did this additional EC$200,000 come from? Well, investment income grew between years from a low differential of EC$2.7 million to a high of EC$5.8 million. Such growth was expected, however, because in many instances, the interest was rolled over and additional assets were engaged. Strong links, once again, even though we are moving from a mostly collect and save/invest scenario to a mostly collect and pay situation. That too, is a function of the way our Social Security is designed. It is a sign of maturity!
To maintain our strong chain, extra effort is required in order to increase and improve our productivity. We commend the Compliance Department for their efforts. We also commend the Benefits Department for its commitment to generating satisfied customers (who become our best advocates). We commend the Directorate for its commitment to controlling ‘administrative costs’. We commend the Public Relations Department for educating the public without the protection of the law that the Inspectors enjoy. We commend Audit Department for keeping us honest. We commend the Finance and Accounts Department for prudent investment and hawkishness with the people’s money.
Kudos are also due to Records Department who keep us up to date, and to Research and Statistics who have an uncanny ability to transform all we do into figures from which we can all make sense. Kudos also to the Board of Directors, especially the Chairman, who, in connecting the dots, has guided the stability of the Fund for the past few years. Our greatest thanks go to the Minister for his masterful touches of intervention - not interference – that has led to a Fund that has become the lifeblood of the Nation.
We confess that while it feels good to be part of an institution (as employees and as insured persons) that is doing as well as Social Security is doing. We cannot help but wonder, though, how much better off we would have been if it wasn’t for all the hiding and dodging and fraudulent activities that has been taking place. Imagine that after 31 years of proving ourselves, we still have to make appearances in courts, suing people for their own good. That takes away from our potential intake, and makes us spend money that could have been put to more productive use. Imagine how many more people we could have helped if that money was duly paid in when it is due. Despite our best efforts, there is still old money out there to collect. But even so, such arrears is less than half of one percent of all of the collections. That is an amazing statistic!
And now, here are my thoughts on those issues that will further strengthen our chain:-
Pregnancy; an honest, compliant employer; a satisfied beneficiary; knowledgeable Insured Persons; safe, high yielding investment; space; the Reserve Fund. These (and others) will be examined in gre.ater detail in subsequent article.
