The Government has announced a $1-billion programme to provide a one-time cash grant of $20,000 to 50,000 vulnerable Jamaicans.
Labour and Social Security Minister Pearnel Charles Jr explained that the programme goes beyond simply handing out money. He said that 30,000 of the 50,000 beneficiaries will be selected with the help of members of parliament and community-based organisations, including churches, NGOs, and civil society groups.
The initiative, which is called the Solidarity Programme, was launched by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness at Jamaica House yesterday. It targets a wide cross section of Jamaicans — including the elderly, unattached youth between 18 and 35, persons with disabilities, informal and low-income workers, the medically indigent, small business operators affected by disaster, and those without a birth certificate or taxpayer registration number.
However, individuals already receiving benefits under the Social Pension Programme, PATH, Poor Relief, the National Insurance Scheme, or the Government’s Reverse Income Tax Credit will not qualify for the new grant. The Reverse Income Tax Credit came in the form of a one-off $20,000 grant that was last year given to persons who earned below $3 million annually.
Yesterday, Holness stressed that access to the funds will require formal registration in the national social safety net — a step he believes will ultimately empower more Jamaicans to secure long-term support.
“So we give an incentive for people who may be attitudinally opposed, because they just form the view that society is against them,” Holness said.
Jamaicans will be able to apply directly using Gov Payout (www.payout.gov.jm), a digital platform developed by the Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA), formerly eGov Jamaica Limited.