Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) - Barbados (Ratification: 1972)

Referring to its observation, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government’s report, including the copies of amendments to the National Insurance and Social Security Act and Regulations as well as in the 11th and 12th actuarial reports of the operation of the Barbados National Insurance Scheme.

Article 60, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Part X (Survivors’ benefit). Personal coverage. In reply to the Committee’s previous comments concerning the extension of benefits to survivors under 50 years of age caring for dependent children of the deceased or incapable of self-support, the Government indicates that the national legislation was amended so as to provide for the extension of survivors’ benefit to persons aged 45 years or more who have been married to the deceased person for more than three years. Survivors’ benefit is also payable but for one year only to survivors whose marriage with the deceased was contracted after the granting to the deceased of an old-age contributory pension. Invalid spouses below the age of 50 who have been married to the deceased person for more than three years at the time of the partner’s death also qualify for a pension during the period of invalidity. All other spouses qualify for a survivor pension for a period of one year and payments to survivors cease on marriage, remarriage or cohabitation as man and wife. In previous reports, the Government had also indicated that survivors who remain unemployed and incapable of self-support upon expiry of this period could be granted means tested social assistance by the Welfare Department.

The Committee notes with interest that the age for entitlement to survivors’ benefit has been lowered from 50 to 45 years (with benefits paid to survivors aged between 45 and 50 years being reduced from 50 per cent to one third of the previous earnings of the deceased). In international social security law, a spouse is usually presumed incapable of self-support if she or he: (i) has attained a certain age which should be lower that the statutory pensionable age; (ii) cares for a dependent child; or (iii) is an invalid. In Barbados, the national legislation grants the right to survivors’ benefit to a spouse of 45 years or over and to an invalid spouse below the age of 50. In both cases the right is subjected to the condition of having been married to the deceased for at least three years at the time of death. The Committee wishes to point out that Article 63(5) of the Convention authorizes the imposition of a minimum duration of marriage only in respect of a childless widow. It is also concerned that the surviving spouse aged below 45 and caring for a child is left without protection under Barbadian legislation. The Government’s attention is further drawn to the fact that the limitation to one year only of survivors’ benefit in cases where the marriage with the deceased was contracted after the granting of an old-age contributory pension is not in conformity with the Convention. The Committee hopes that the Government will take the measures necessary to bring the national legislation into conformity with the Convention.

Part XI (Standards to be complied with by periodical payments), Article 65 (in conjunction with Articles 62 and 63). Level of survivors’ benefit. In Barbados, the beneficiary who has completed more than three years of contributions is entitled to receive a basic invalidity pension at the rate of 40 per cent of the average annual insurable earnings over the contribution period. His surviving spouse above 50 years of age with two children, would be entitled to receive a benefit representing 50 per cent of the amount of his invalidity pension supplemented by one-sixth of the main beneficiary’s pension for each dependant child. The standard beneficiary defined by the Convention would thereby, where the widow is above 50 years, be guaranteed a replacement rate of 33.33 per cent of the previous average earnings of the breadwinner which is above the requirement of 30 per cent established by Article 63(3) of the Convention for systems where the qualifying period does not exceed five years.

By contrast, the benefit of a surviving spouse aged between 45 and 50 years, would represent not 50 per cent but one third of the pension that would have been payable to the deceased breadwinner and, together with the supplements for two children, would attain only 26.5 per cent of the breadwinner’s previous earnings, falling short of the 30 per cent replacement level required by the Convention.

In view of the relatively small number of potential beneficiaries, the Committee invites the Government to conduct an actuarial study on the financial implications of progressively raising the level of benefits paid to survivors between 45 and 50 years of age with a view to bringing national law and practice into conformity with the Convention.