Pension holiday extension confirmed
(CNS): Both employers and employees have been given a reprieve on mandatory pension payments for another three months. Government has extended the ‘pension holiday’ on the 10% payment on salaries until the end of the year. However, the emergency withdrawal scheme will not be extended and anyone who wants to access their pension cash must apply before the end of October.
Government officials said that the extension of the pension payment holiday is to help Cayman’s economic rebound and to alleviate the financial strain the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the community.
“Cabinet has granted an approval for the pension holiday to expire on 31 December 2020 during which time all employers and employees will not be required to pay pension contributions into their pension plans,” officials from the Department of Labour and Pensions said in a release issued Wednesday.
However, anyone wishing to make payments during this time can do so and these payments will be counted on the voluntary side of the contributions balance sheet.
Speaking at a press briefing on 9 September when he confirmed the likelihood of the pension contribution holiday, Premier Alden McLaughlin said there were no plans to extend the time people have to access their pension or to implement another withdrawal.
He said an additional withdrawal would be a last-ditch effort but the way the economy was moving, it was not a good idea to allow what would amount to people taking half of their entire pension. “We aren’t considering that yet and won’t be for the rest of this year,” he said.
The change in the law earlier this year allowed people to take $10,000 plus 25% of what remained in their pension funds as a way of helping people get through the coronavirus lockdown and the economic contraction caused by the loss of tourism and the departure of a significant number of residents.
While it may pose future problems when people retire, in the short term the significant injection of cash appears to have buoyed the domestic economy and prevented a full scale recession.
Email dlp@gov.ky for more information about the current pension rules.
Category: Local News
Let’s see:
Government officials said that the extension of the pension payment holiday is to help Cayman’s economic rebound and to alleviate the financial strain the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the community.
Here let’s try this:
Government officials said that the extension of the pension payment holiday is to help Cayman delay the economic suicide until a later date while alleviating the financial strain the CIG lockdown has had on the community.
Many peoples salary package includes pension so it was not for govt to decide this.
Plus reading their law, it seems to only apply to NON time based contracts. A work permit means an employment contract is timed so I dont get how this was even legal to anyone with a permit.
Future governments will be paying for this grave mistake for decades to come
So my pay cut continues…why couldn’t this be upon agreement of both employer and employee?
You are lucky to still have a job.
Its not about luck. Youre either essential or youre not.
All the govt did was allow employers to cut the hardest working essentials workers salaries by 5% as many employers consider pension as part of overall salary to their staff.
Sell your soul and become a Civil Servant
You have a choice not to take advantage of the holiday. If you choose to pay your 5% then your employer has to pay their 5%. It is a choice