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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, September 11, 2019 (CMC) – The Barbados government says it will resume paying invalidity pensions to more than 150 people, even as it continues to deal with the “overpayment anomaly” that has cost the Treasury BDS$13.8 million, over the past 10 years.
In late July, Prime Minister, Mia Amor Mottley, intervened in the matter, after considerable public criticism of how the matter had been handled, pointing out that while there may have been a legal justification for the abatement, a solution had to be based, more on humanitarian grounds, than acting as bureaucratic slaves to the letter of the law.
A statement from the Office of the Prime Minister said that the 190 people, whose invalidity pension cheques had been stopped for the past 15 months, would resume from this month, even as the probe continues.
Last weekend, Director of Finance and Economic Affairs (DFE), Ian Carrington, wrote the Accountant General, detailing the instructions of the Cabinet, on the approach that should be taken on a matter that has generated considerable debate and criticism, particularly during June, July and August.
“As you are aware, there have been numerous complaints, over the past few months, regarding the abatement of pensions of those officers, who are medically boarded,” the statement said, quoting the memo from the DFE.
“Following discussions with the Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investments, it was decided that as the Invalidity Pensions relate to a particularly vulnerable section of the population, it would be necessary to put a revised policy in place.
“However, until that policy has been finalized, the Cabinet has agreed that those officers, who are receiving Invalidity Pensions and whose pensions were abated by the Treasury, should have their pensions reinstated, with effect from September 2019,” the memo noted.
Carrington said he has been assured that the process of reinstatement had started, to have all 190 persons, who had been impacted, back on to the role in time for September’s pension payments.
“It should be noted that this decision will cost the Treasury more than $177,000 per month, and that over the past ten years, this overpayment anomaly has occurred at a total cost of $13.8 million to taxpayers,” the statement added.
