ROSEAU Dominica,September 9th, 2011 -- The Dominica Social Security has embarked on a series of stakeholder consultations across the island. Employers, employees and self employed persons have been engaged in dialogue on matters relating to the further development of the social security scheme.
Janice Jean-Jacques Thomas is the Executive Director of the Dominica Social Security. She spoke with GIS News on Tuesday about the purpose of the meetings.
“The management of the Dominica Social Security is seeking to consult with our various stakeholders: the employees, employers, self-employed persona and the general public about the status of the fund and the measures that were being needed to ensure that the fund can remain sustainable to serve successive generations of Dominicans.”
During the meetings DSS officials are discussing with stakeholders the outcome of the latest actuarial reviews.
“An actuary is someone who is qualified in statistics and the measuring of risks and determining premiums. So, by law, every three years, the Dominica Social Security Fund must be subject to an actuaral review. When the actuary comes down, the actuary will review our statistics at Social Security, how long people are living. The actuary also reviews national statistics and so records of births, deaths, employment, the economy as a whole.
The actuary looks at everything and from that, makes projections. The projection period when the actuary comes is a sixty year period. When the actuary comes and checks the status of the fund, the status of the economy, the demographics in the country, the actuary will make projections and as a result of those projections, recommendations will be made and those recommendations are meant to pus the system forward for the next sixty years.”
The DSS official spoke of some of the recommendations made by the actuary.
“From the last review, two important recommedations that continue to remain outstanding are:
1.The recommendation to increase the age at which we pay pensions gradually: from age sixty to sixty-five over a fifteen year period. We have different options but the end result is to increase the; that movement will be a gradual movement.
2.To increase the contribution rate.
So, there are two recommendations which continue to remain outstanding.”
In 2006, a series of consultations were held by the DSS to discuss the recommendations. They were, however, never implemented. Thomas explained that at these meetings nationals readily accepted the need for changes.
“Even when this actuary came for the last review, for the tenth review, the actuary was pleased himself to see that persons had actually embraced the need for the change because when you explain to people why the changes are necessary, they accept the reasons why that is so.”
The support received in 2006 appears to remain constant in 2011.
“We had a consultation at Portsmouth and I must say it was a very good meeting. The experience we had there was good. We had persons who are now enjoying pensions actually coming to sell the programme saying how good it was and how dependent and reliable the Social Security benefit was and so ensure that other persons can enjoy that benefit.
Whatever changes need to be made should be made to ensure that successive generations of Dominicans can really do partake and enjoy the promise that Social Security made when the programme was first designed.”
For the DSS officials the message which will be taken across the island is there is a need for change.
“We want the stakeholders to note that the changes are necessary to ensure that the programme can continue to deliver benefits. The level of benefits that it currently delivers to the insured persons and that it can be here well into the future to serve successive generations of Dominicans.
So the changes and the two most relevant ones are the increase in the retirement age; this is the one which is bringing the most discussion and the increase in contribution rate.
These two are really necessary to ensure that down the road, Social Security can be there to serve our grand children, great-grand children and the successive generations of Dominica.”
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