HGP Nightly News – Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh is pushing for a major shift in how National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contribution gaps are detected, warning that workers should not reach retirement age before discovering that years of contributions are missing from their records.
Singh wants every registered employer to automatically receive an annual statement from the NIS showing which employees had contributions paid on their behalf and how many contributions were recorded for each worker.
The Finance Minister made the call Wednesday as the NIS marked its 57th anniversary.
He said employers should not have to request the information, arguing that annual statements would allow contribution problems to be identified and corrected while records are still readily available.
“Every registered employer is entitled to receive automatically without requesting it a statement at the end of the year reflecting all of the employees for whom contributions were made and how many contributions were made in relation to those employees,” Singh said.
He called on NIS General Manager Holly Greaves and the board to ensure the system is functioning properly and that the statements are issued to employers at the end of each year.
Singh also urged workers, self-employed contributors and employers to take greater responsibility for checking NIS records rather than waiting until a pension or other benefit is being claimed.
He recalled encountering people approaching age 60 who had not regularly reviewed their contribution histories and were then forced to determine whether former employers had properly paid over their contributions.
The problem, he said, can become even harder to resolve when a former employer has closed down or is no longer operating.
“Please make sure that deductions are being paid over on your behalf,” Singh urged workers.
Under the NIS contribution system, employed workers contribute 5.6 percent of wages while employers contribute 8.4 percent, for a combined 14 percent, subject to the applicable insurable earnings ceiling.
Singh said workers should request their NIS records at least once a year and make sure their contribution histories are up to date.
But he also wants the NIS to do more of the checking itself.
Singh called for greater use of the Scheme’s digital systems and data analytics to identify possible gaps before they become a problem for contributors.
He suggested that the NIS could use its existing database to flag situations where a worker appears to have been employed by the same employer at the beginning and end of a year but has fewer contributions recorded than expected.
“If I start the year with an employer and I end the year with an employer, instantly you can make the assumption that I was there for the whole year,” he said.
That information, he argued, could allow NIS officials to contact employers and resolve discrepancies long before a worker reaches retirement or applies for a benefit.
The NIS already allows contributors to access their contribution records, but Singh said the system should become more proactive in identifying problems rather than waiting for workers to report them.
“We cannot be reactive,” he said. “We cannot only sit down and wait for people to walk through the door.”
Singh also reminded employers of their responsibility to ensure workers are properly registered with the NIS and that deductions are paid over in a timely manner.
For the Finance Minister, the issue is ultimately about preventing workers from discovering too late that their social security records do not reflect the contributions they believed had been made on their behalf.
