| Government is mulling the possibilities of allowing more input from a wide cross-section of society to chart the future of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).NIS’ Chairman, Dr Roger Luncheon, and General Manager, Doreen NelsonThe disclosure came from Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon yesterday, as he admitted the scheme has run into a major problem.Workers inputting contributions from a manual to an electronic system have over a million contributions that cannot be processed in the system because of missing data such as names and the NIS numbers.The entity is seriously thinking of going public to bring down those contributions which currently stand at just over 1.1 million.Dr. Luncheon,Authentic Carolina Panthers Jersey, who also happens to be the Chairman of NIS,Curry 1 Shoes For Sale, said that the scheme was mandated to converting its paper records of contributions to electronic between June and December last year.NIS General Manager, Doreen Nelson, and her managers, recently briefed the President and the Cabinet of Ministers on the state of the scheme, in the face of criticisms by especially contributors who are complaining that missing records are seeing them taking home benefits that are far less that they are entitled to.Dr. Luncheon said that a recent exercise bore fruit and data entry workers managed to process all outstanding contribution records.The discouraging news was those one million contributions that could not be entered or verified by December 31, 2014. This meant, the spokesman said, that beneficiaries were not receiving what they were due.He said that Cabinet “agreed” that “incisive actions” are necessary to solve the problem.Luncheon stressed that there is little that the scheme can do on its own with one of the options now is making the issue a public one.Employees may be called to present their contribution records which will be reconciled with that of NIS.With NIS receiving and paying out around $1B every month, Dr. Luncheon assured that the scheme is very solvent and financially sound, according to a report of a recent actuarial review. The challenge will be to continue that momentum, he said.The recent meeting between NIS top management “re-assured” Cabinet with a better awareness of the situation, Dr. Luncheon said.The major focus remains now, to improve the current perceptions and criticisms of especially contributors, who are aggrieved by the delays in benefits.According to Luncheon, NIS has recognized that it needs to do better.Among some of the options being mulled is the involvement of the private sector, labour and the National Assembly in some of the decision making processes of NIS. It will necessitate law changes and take away some of the pressure currently being felt by the Board.Last year,Kevin Love Jersey, NIS celebrated 45 years in existence of maintaining a system of social security through which enough income is secured to take the place of earnings in the event of sickness and accident.Under the laws, employed persons and employers have to make payments,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, based on their earnings, to National Insurance Scheme.There has been worry whether the entity’s payments were not exceeding collections,Cheap China NFL Jerseys, threatening its long-term viability.Last year, NIS reported that it had assets that exceed $30B.With more than 120,Cheap Jerseys Supply,600 active contributions and 42,000 pensioners, NIS has admitted that periodical reviews of NIS have pointed out the unmatched growth in expenditure as compared to income.It recognized that income collection must be enhanced.NIS is hoping to improve the situation by increasing the number of contributors and improving its debt recovery.Another major problem over the decades has been the failure by NIS to enforce the law on registration of the self employed. That and its debt management have remained a major bugbear. In 2013, NIS reported a deficit of approximately $16M.Between January and August last year, contributions collected were approximately $9.012B while total expenditure over the same period was approximately $9.823B.The projections to the end of the year show that income from contributions would be approximately $15.035B while the projected expenditure would be approximately $15.748B.The amount paid as benefits during 2013 was $12.6B and it is projected that for 2014,Cheap Arizona Diamondbacks Hoodies, the amount will increase to $14.0B. The Pension Branch – Old Age, Invalidity, Survivors – accounts for approximately 89 per cent of these payments. |
