Barbadians are being short-changed by the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
The latest actuarial review of the NIS has concluded that the Government agency needs more staff and is taking too long to dispense short-term claims and award pensions.
Contracted actuary Derek Osborne found that “given the significant investment made in an IT system several years ago, the National Insurance Office underperforms what would reasonably be expected in delivering timely benefit adjudication”.
“The concerns relate primarily to the time that it takes to award short-term claims and the time it takes to award pensions. Obtaining complete and reliable data form the National Insurance Office is also a concern. This may be both system-related and due to the lack of adequate human resources devoted to data gathering and analysis.
“Because of this, the publishing of annual reports and the provision of data required for this report have been delayed extensively,” he said in a 14th actuarial review report submitted to the Government.
