Disbursement Soon Under Solidarity Programme

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security has been undertaking a pilot of the digital platform Gov Payout, which will be used to facilitate payments under the $1-billion Solidarity Programme.

“We have been doing the pilot for about three to four weeks. We’ve been able to amend and fix and revise and go through a lot of the testing where there were several issues in terms of uploading, the size of the document and different things that were causing errors,” Portfolio Minister, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr., told JIS News.

“Now we are near 100 per cent in terms of capacity to upload, which means that we are now moving at a much, much faster pace in terms of identifying beneficiaries, uploading them into the system, and very soon doing disbursement,” he added.

The Solidarity Programme will target the elderly; unattached youth, aged 18 to 35; persons with disabilities; informal and low-income workers; medically indigent persons; small business operators affected by disaster; and Jamaicans without a birth certificate or Taxpayer Registration Number (TRN), providing beneficiaries with a one-time cash grant of $20,000.

Jamaicans currently receiving benefits under the Social Pension Programme, Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), Poor Relief, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), or the Government’s Reverse Income Tax Credit are not eligible for support under the Solidarity Programme.

Gov Payout is the Government’s new digital payment platform, which will enable secure, timely, and traceable disbursement of funds, primarily via direct bank transfers. It was developed by the Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA), formerly eGov Jamaica Limited.

For individuals who are not members of a financial institution or do not have bank accounts, access will be facilitated through Paymaster and authorised remittance agents, ensuring no Jamaican is left behind.

The Minister further stated that the disbursements will be made firstly to those persons who have been identified by their Members of Parliament.

“It is important to note that the next phase will see us working with civil society, churches, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), while simultaneously having our solidarity team in the Ministry working with our parish offices to make sure that we get out there, whether through solidarity fairs, our satellite offices, our parish offices, to identify that group of persons that fall within the categories that are most challenging in terms of registering them,” Mr. Charles Jr. said.

Meanwhile, the Minister noted that the platform will not be opened for “first come, first serve yet, because that would defeat the purpose”.

“If we did so, within 24 hours it would be completely filled; 50,000 persons, not a lot for persons to go on and sign up. The goal is to have what we define as strategic inclusion, because when you assess the past programmes, yes, they’re fast, yes, they’re efficient, but inherent in it is a systemic exclusion that leaves out the persons who don’t have the best internet access, the persons who can’t read, the persons who don’t have any birth certificate, the persons who don’t have any TRN or NIS, so they can’t register,” he said.

“That’s who we want to reach. We want to reach the most vulnerable among the vulnerable. So, if you’re going to reach them, you have to have a different approach,” the Minister added.

Mr. Charles Jr. also elaborated on the deeper benefit of pulling individuals into the formal social protection system.

“The most important benefit is that we want to help you to get your birth certificate… and your TRN, so you can get into the formal system. So next time, if we get the opportunity to have another Solidarity Programme or any other programme that is going to require registration, you won’t be on the fringes. You will have the capacity to challenge the persons who are first-come, first-served, and that’s the goal,” he said.

“So, the major benefit of Solidarity is that partnership with purpose, bringing the persons into formality, identifying the elder persons who are not on PATH, not on pension, and after we give you the $20,000, we get you on the PATH or social pension if you need to be. So, that’s the more critical benefit to me in terms of the long-lasting relationship and impact of this Solidarity Programme,” he added.

For more information, persons can telephone 876-922-5112, 876-676-5699, or 876-676-5697.