The deputy director of Dominica Social Security (DSS), Augustus Etienne, has revealed the wisdom and process of participating in social security contributions. Etienne said paid employees should enrol with the DSS on the first month of their employment and should run the contributory scheme throughout the duration of their employment.
The DSS deputy director said social security contributions insure employees against retirement age when they can no longer work, or against incidental factors that make them indisposed to hold paid employment. He said it is a form of financial insurance against the future when work is no long possible due to age or physical incapacity.
According to Etienne, people should begin to plan for retirement from the first day they begin paid employment or when they get their first pay cheque. He said waiting to plan for retirement when you are almost 60 is shortchanging yourself from enjoying twilight years of financial peace and investment security.
He further went ahead to explain that certain criteria must be met before workers participating in the DSS scheme can be eligible for pension. He said they must have contributed to the scheme for at least 10 years or 500 weeks, and that this would qualify them to access a minimum pension of 30% every month, increasable to 60% over time.
To qualify for the pension, you need to have paid contributions cummulative to at least 10 years. And sometimes we break that down into weeks – that will translate into about 500 weeks of contributions. So once you have 500 weeks of contributions in the system, you qualify for a pension.
The pension is paid as a percentage of your salary; the 500 weeks of contributions will qualify you for a minimum of 30% of salary [monthly]. And the 30% is increased by 1% for every 50 contributions of the first 500…or in terms of years for every year in excess of the 10 years, but that can go from 30% to a maximum of 60%.
Augustus Etienne: Deputy Director, Dominica Social Security
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