By Robert A. Emmanuel
The Cabinet has announced that it intends to introduce a new national retirement age that would ensure retiring private sector employees will no longer go several years without accessing a Social Security pension.
In 2017, the Antigua and Barbuda Social Security Board and the government took a decision to gradually increase the age of retirement for pensioners under the scheme from 60 to 65 by 2025.
While established workers in the civil service now matched pensionable age, many private sector employees were relieved of their duties at age 60 due to the lack of a national retirement age.
At Thursday’s weekly post-Cabinet press briefing, Melford Nicholas, Cabinet spokesperson and Information Minister, said this age gap was an unintended consequence of making the Social Security scheme more sustainable.
He said some private companies retire staff at age 60 as standard.
“In the private sector, the age of retirement continues to be at 60 and accordingly persons who have reached that retirement age… are having to wait an extended period of time before they are able to claim a pension from Social Security,” he said.
Nicholas said the drafting of the new legislation will begin in the new parliamentary session in 2023.