Caricom Reciprocal Agreement

1. Totalisation (aggregation), for the purpose of acquiring and retaining the right to benefit and of calculating the amount of benefit of all periods taken into account under the laws of the member countries.
2. Payment of benefits to persons resident in the territories of member countries.

• Antigua & Barbuda
• The Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Jamaica
• Monsterrat
• St. Kitts & Nevis
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent & Grenadines
• Suriname
• Trinidad & Tobago

• Freedom of movement of workers & the Self-employed
• Transferability of benefit rights through the principle of Totalisation
• Possibility of receiving a pension instead of receiving a grant in a country because of insufficient contributions
• Opportunity to augment the human resource base of each participating state

• Invalidity Pension
• Disablement Pension
• Old Age Pension
• Survivors’ Pension
• Death Benefits in the form of pensions

• Totalisation (adding the contribution weeks in the countries where persons would have worked)
• Contributions in respect of different categories of migrant workers
• Submission of claims
• Documents to accompany claims

Claims for Long-term benefits must be submitted to the Social Security/NIS Office in the territory where the claimant normally resides, or to the office from which he/she is entitled to receive benefits. Such claims and their accompanying documents must be submitted at the time and in the manner prescribed by the law which that Institution applies.

Procedures for Processing Claims Under the Reciprocal Agreement

Upon obtaining the relevant information required for processing the claim, and having been satisfied that the claimant has met the conditions for benefit entitlement, each territory shall calculate the Notional Amount, Actual Amount and the Local Amount of benefit which the claimant qualifies for. Notional Amount – This is determined by first adding the total of contributions paid in all the participating states in order to determine the corresponding payable percentage. That percentage is then multiplied by the Claimant’s relevant Average Annual Insurable Earnings. Actual Amount – This is determined by dividing the total contributions paid in the competent state by the total of contributions paid in all the participating states, and multiplying the ration obtained by the Average Annual Insurable Earnings. Local Amount – This is the amount of benefit which would have been paid to the claimant under the Competent State’s local laws if there was no Reciprocal Agreement.

• Insured persons and their dependents
• Self-employed persons
• Voluntary Contributors

The agreement allows for the payment of voluntary contributions. Permission to pay the contributions is dependant on the number of contributions made in the participating states. In other words, the contributions will be added together (this is the concept of totalisation).

The benefits will not be reduced, modified, suspended or forfeited if the insured persons or their survivors reside in a state other than where the benefit is payable.

Persons will be subject to the legislation of the State where he/she is currently employed. If persons are employed on a ship, then the legislation of the State where the ship is registered will apply. In the case of the Self-employed Coverage, persons will be subject to the State where they work. If persons made compulsory contributions in one state and become a voluntary contributor in another, they will be guided by the provisions of the Country where they have made the compulsory contributions. The reciprocal agreement makes provisions for persons in cases where the legislation of more than one of the participating states apply. If you or any insured person is disadvantaged by the application of certain provisions of the agreement, then the relevant authorities could by mutual agreement make exceptions for the application of this convention in the interest of the person(s) affected. This is especially so for diplomats, persons working on ships, voluntary and self-employed contributors and others who reside in countries other than their place of work.