Registration for Tourism Workers Pension Scheme to begin on March 27

Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, has announced that registration for Tourism Workers Pension Scheme will begin on March 27.

The exercise will be held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

More than 350,000 employees are expected to benefit immediately from the pension scheme, which became effective on January 31, 2020.

The scheme is designed to cover all workers ages 18-59 years in the tourism sector, whether permanent, contract or self-employed.

This includes hotel workers as well as persons employed in related industries such as craft vendors, tour operators, red cap porters, contract carriage operators and workers at attractions.

“I am extremely pleased that after all the hard work of the senior technocrats of my Ministry along with the Board of Trustees, registration for the scheme will begin on March 27...this is truly tourism working for all,” said Bartlett while speaking at a sensitisation session at the Hotel Tim Bamboo in Portland last Thursday.

“I am urging all workers in the sector to go out and sign up so they can benefit by contributing to their own retirement after giving of themselves so tirelessly,” he added.

Bartlett informed that the Board of Trustees, which oversees the Scheme, is set to announce an Investment Manager and a Fund Administrator to manage the operations of the pension plan shortly.

“The development of the regulations for the Act is nearly complete, which will provide the guidelines on how the scheme will operate,” he said.

The regulations will also provide for an augmented pension.

Augmented pension beneficiaries will be persons who joined the scheme at 59-years-old and would not have saved enough for a retirement benefit.

With the Ministry’s injection of $1 billion to augment the fund, these persons will qualify for a minimum pension.

According to Bartlett, the scheme has received overwhelming support from workers, employers and other stakeholders in the sector who have lauded it as a critical piece of social legislation that will positively impact many lives.

“This is the time for all tourism workers to feel confident that at the end of their years of service in the sector they love, that they can have a guaranteed pension to take care of themselves,” said Bartlett.

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