CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY SECRETARIAT

The CARICOM Agreement on Social Security was signed in Georgetown, Guyana on 1 ^st March 1996 and came into effect on 1^st April 1997. From this date, persons can thus apply for benefits under the Agreement. The Agreement is intended to protect CARICOM Nationals’ entitlement to benefits and provide equality of treatment when moving from one country to another. The Agreement is seen as key in facilitating the free movement of labour within the CARICOM Single Market, but it applies to all persons who are moving to work or have worked in two or more countries that have implemented the Agreement. The Agreement is in effect in the following CARICOM Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis,  The Bahamas,  Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Jamaica.   

The Agreement is not in effect in Suriname and Haiti.

Social Security Benefits Procedures

1. How To Become Eligible For A Benefit
2. Claiming Benefits: Submission of Claims
3. Documents to Accompany Claims
4. Examination of Claims
5. Provision for Recovery of Excess or Advanced Payments
6. Currency of Payment
7. Social Security Offices

Compulsory and Voluntary Insurance Schemes

If you are insured under the Law of one country, e.g., Barbados, and you are permitted to voluntarily contribute at the same time to another compulsory insurance plan, you will be insured under the first country’s scheme only (in this case Barbados). If you are permitted to voluntarily contribute to two or more compulsory insurance schemes, you are entitled to be insured under the scheme in the country where you reside. If you do not live in one of the CARICOM Member States, you should be insured under the scheme of the country where you last worked.

• Invalidity Pensions

• Disablement Pensions

• Old Age or Retirement Pensions

• Survivors’ Pensions

• Death Benefits