Undergraduate Scholarship Named for NIS Founder

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has announced an undergraduate scholarship to be named for the late former Minister of Labour and National Insurance, Lynden G. Newland, for study in the area of social work or social policy.The three-year scholarship which is valued at $750,000 will be awarded to a contributor orthe child of a contributor and is tenable at any of the island’s three universities.
Mrs. Simpson Miller made the announcement on Tuesday (Apr.11) in an address at the 40th anniversary awards ceremony of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. Mr. Lynden G. Newland was instrumental in the establishment of the NIS in 1966.
Prime Minister Simpson Miller said the close monitoring and prudent investments of the NIS funds has resulted in its significant growth which now stands at a record J$42 Billion and growing. She said the net assets have shown a consistent increase over the past several years since the creation of an advisory board charged with the responsibility for pursuing an aggressive investment path to ensure periodic adjustments to pensioners’ benefits.
The Prime Minister pointed to the tremendous contribution of National Insurance Fund to the country’s development efforts and worker welfare and urged employers to ensure that the annual returns for their staff are up to date and submitted to the NIS offices on time. She urged special groups, in particular household workers who are among the most vulnerable and self-employed persons, to become registered under the scheme.
Mrs. Simpson Miller also encouraged NIS compliance officers to continue their strict monitoring of deliquent employers and that where necessary, legal action should be initiated to recover contribution arrears.
She praised the awardees who have given decades of service to the NIS, noting that their hard work had made the scheme one of the most successful public policies in the history of modern Jamaica. She said that the fact that successive governments on both sides of the political divide had kept the NIS in existence was a testimony to its significance in providing a social protection system for workers and their dependents.
There have been signifiant improvements in the benefits to NIS contributors and their dependents over the years, including a recent 66.66 per cent increase in NIS benefits effective April 3 and the introduction of the NI/Gold special health plan in 2003