St. Kitts and Nevis: The qualified Government Auxiliary Employees (GAEs) will now receive their pension. It is going to be for the first time that they will be receiving their pension from the government.

As per the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis Dr. Terrance Drew the GAEs pension has come more than a decade after the law was passed back in the year 2012 by the previous Labour administration.

PM Drew mentioned that the Unity government refused to pay the pension to qualified workers earlier. Moreover, the previous government cut the Government Auxiliary Employees or workers gratuity by 66%.

But now, with the support of the A-team, hundreds of qualified workers will get their pension at the end of July 2024.

Considerably, the payment will date back to the January 2024 as this is the date when the pension was offered due to the start. However, thousands of more of the qualified workers will also benefit in the future.

The pension is being granted to keep the commitment by the government of PM Drew that he made under his leadership to fulfil the pledge made to the people.

Prime Minister Dr. Drew made the announcement during the May 02, 2024 while being at the Sitting of the National Assembly.

During the sitting, PM Drew stated that the Pension Reform Task Force will continue to perform its duties to ensure a pension which is paid to all GAEs. The committee prioritised the pension payments to GAEs who decided to exit the government system before December 31, 2024.

Considering this, Dr. Drew remarked that the payment of pensions to GAEs was a vision and commitment, which was made from the onset of his administration.

Drew indicated that this measure will benefit thousands of people in the Federation and said that in less than two years since he became the prime minister, his Cabinet colleagues and him were able to bring together the framework for the operationalisation of pension payments.

He brought up this thing by mentioning that they have arrived at a point where they can now say from the task force and from the Actuary that the payments will begin in July of the year 2024.

Prime Minister highlighted that the Government Auxiliary Employees must be of at least 62 years now, and have contributed a minimum of fifteen years of service to be eligible for a pension.

Earlier, PM Drew also reminded the nation that in the year 2021, the end-of-tenure gratuity which rewarded the classification of workers for their years of outstanding service was discontinued by the former administration.

Notably, the payments were restored under the leadership of Prime Minister Drew and the workers who were presented with their monies during a ceremony in June 2023.

To further protect and ensure the financial stability for GAEs and other public sector workers after their retirement, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis introduced a new Contributory Pension Plan in December 2023.

The plan was designed to benefit all GAEs, as well as the ones who have been employed by the Government since May 18, 2012.