No COVID Relief Benefits for Persons Behind on SSB Payments

Persons who are behind in their Social Security and National Health Insurance contributions and are now impacted by Covid 19, facing unemployment will find it difficult under Government’s Economic Stimulus.

What we found is that a lot of persons are not up to date which means they are disqualified from getting certain things, and we cannot ignore that reality. I do not believe that persons are not paying these things or businesses because they don’t want to, the reality in the BVI is that we need to do more for businesses to ensure that they are viable and they can pay their overheads,”

Hon. Vincent Wheatley, Minister of Labour and Immigration

Opposition Leader Marlon Penn thinks that the system needs to bend to assist those who really require the help. He said there are persons whose employment were affected by the 2017 hurricanes to this day.

I know persons who have gotten employment two weeks before the shutdown and are told that they don’t have any support because they don’t meet the eligibility. But, they are affected by COVID-19, so how are we going to support those persons? And it can’t be just through the district funds.

Hon. Marlon Penn, Leader of the Opposition

The Opposition Leader stated that there are other instances where employees’ contributions were not paid by their employers and are also being affected.

Penn said these are real concerns, they have to figure out in a streamlined way to ensure that the people who are truly in need of the support, get the support.