The Dominica Social Security (DSS) said it has become necessary to increase pensionable age from 60 to 65. Deputy Director of the DSS, Augustus Etienne, revealed that many Dominicans now live to a great old age, and this is impacting heavily on DSS resources since these people have to be paid pensions till the end of their lives.
Etienne painted a picture where a government employee retires from public service at age 60 and then dies at age 110 – collecting pension for 50 years, a situation that the DSS has found financially enervating for government resources.
“More and more people are coming of age to receive their pensions and when they get there, they live long,” Etienne said. “It is not uncommon to find persons in receipt of pensions from age 60 and they are 100+ and they have to continue receiving pension for as long as they live. People are aging much better now.”
He noted that since many people are living beyond the age of 100 and collecting pensions from the government, this might impact on the sustainability of social security, hence the need to increase pensionable age from 60 to 65.
“When you start paying someone pensions at 60, how long do we have to pay them before they pass, how long do we have to pay commitments to their dependents…?”
To further boost the sustainability of the pension scheme, Etienne said it has become necessary to also increase employees’ contributions by a quarter percent. He said the quarter percent increase will be borne alternatively by employers and employees, meaning that employers will bear the increase one year and employees will bear it the following year and then back to the employers again.
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