Retirement Benefit

The National Insurance Retirement Benefit is designed to supplement the income of individuals after retirement. Every employee who has paid National Insurance contributions is entitled to a Retirement Benefit.

You qualify for the Retirement Benefit at any time between the ages of 60 and 65 if you are retired or at age 65 whether you retire or not. This Benefit includes the Retirement Pension and Retirement Grant.

Retirement Pension
Retirement Grant

Retirement Pension

A Retirement Pension is payable for life to persons who have 750 contributions or more – the minimum requirement for a basic pension.

Anyone who is insured under the system and who has attained age 60 years and has retired or at any age between 60 and 65 years that he or she retires; or who is aged 65 whether retired or not.

You must have reached Retirement Age.

The insured person who is age 65 years will receive the benefit whether he/she stops working or not.

The insured person who is between 60 to under 65 years will receive the benefit if he ceases to be in insurable employment and will continue to receive such pension even if he returns to insurable employment before he attains age 65.

Have a minimum of 750 contributions to his or her credit. The contributions may comprise of paid contributions inclusive of Voluntary Contributions, Age Credits and or Benefit Credits.

A Claim to Retirement Benefit may be submitted about three months before:

Your 65th Birthday if you are not retired.
Your 60th Birthday if you retire at age 60 or before.
The date on which you plan to retire if you are between 60 and 65 years of age and still employed. Your Claim must be submitted no later than 12 MONTHS from your date of retirement if you are between 60 and 65 years of age or your 65th birthday whether retired or not.

Time Frames

0 – 3 Months	Claim on time and can be accepted
3 – 12 Months	Claim late and may be accepted with good cause
12 Months and over	Claim late and shall be disallowed

Late Applications

You must apply on time to ensure that you receive your benefit.

To submit a claim, you must first book an appointment through our Web Appointment Portal.

To ensure that your claim is accurately submitted to the NIBTT for processing, follow the Claim Guidelines when completing all claim forms before your appointment date.

NI 82 – Retirement Benefit Application
NI 65 – Life Certificate

All of these forms are available FREE of charge at any National Insurance Service Centre or are downloadable.

USE OF NATIONAL INSURANCE FORMS
Whenever you perform National Insurance functions under the National Insurance Act or Regulations, you must accurately complete the specific National Insurance forms that are designed so that you can give all the information required.

Birth Certificate.
Any supporting Affidavit or Deed Poll where necessary.
Marriage Certificate for Married /Divorced Women.
A Decree Absolute from Divorced Women.
Late Claim Letter giving exceptional circumstances why claim is being made late.
Valid PICTURE ID of both the claimant and the person submitting the claim on behalf of the claimant (where applicable) is required for acceptance of the claim.

Alternative Evidence of Date of Birth

Where you are unable to submit your birth certificate the NIBTT may, in special circumstances, accept as alternative evidence of age, documents for which the presentation of a birth certificate is a requirement for issue. These will include:

A valid passport.
A valid driver’s permit.
Naturalization Records.
Baptismal Certificate
(registered within 1 year of birth).

Where contributions may be outstanding on your behalf, you may be asked to supply alternative evidence of employment such as:

TD4 slips.
Pay slips.
Record of service for computing employment-related Retiring.
Benefits (daily and monthly paid public servants).
Leave and Pension Records.
Record of service for computing Severance Benefit.
Letter from employer providing detailed information.
Assessment Notice from the Board of Inland Revenue.
Religious Records.
School Records.
Armed Forces Discharge Record.

Supporting Documentation

Your Birth Certificate if not previously submitted.
Birth Certificate of the infant(s) original and copy.
Any supporting affidavit or Deed Poll (where necessary).
It is mandatory that claimants or third parties submitting claims on behalf of the insured must present some form of original valid identification and a copy of same.
A Marriage Certificate is required for a married woman whose name has changed since her registration.
Decree Absolute for divorced women.
Alternative evidence of confinement, e.g. Birth Certificate of child; letter from attending doctor or registered midwife confirming confinement.
Proof of employment can take the form of recent pay slips (within the 52-week period prior to the period presented at Section C-Table 1A) or job letters (no earlier than three (3) months) and TD4’s.
In the case of a midwife certification, a certified copy of the medical certificate/
Foreign medical certificates must be accompanied by a letter of authentication in respect of the doctor’s status from a member of a Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in the country where medical attention was sought. The responsibility for authenticating the status of the attending doctor rests with the insured.
In the case of a midwife certification, a certified copy of the medical certificate/report that the claimant submitted to the employer confirming the pregnancy.
Proof of Account e.g., Bank/Credit Union Statement in claimant’s name.

While proof of employment and the birth certification of the infant(s) and midwife certification are not mandatory submission of same will reduce the processing time of your benefit payment.

How Much Will Be Paid?

An average rate of contribution is calculated by considering all the contributions paid. The earnings class to which this average rate corresponds is the class in which the benefit will be paid. Where the insured person was in receipt of the Retirement Pension prior to the appointed day, benefit rates were converted.

Remember: For every block of 25 contributions paid in excess of 750 one increment is added to the basic pension rate. Notwithstanding the benefit rates in respect of retirement pension the board shall pay with effect from February 1, 2012 the sum of $3,000.00 monthly, as a pension to each person qualifying for a Retirement Pension.

For How Long Will The Benefit Be Paid?

Payment of Retirement Pension will start from the Monday of the week in which Retirement Age was reached and continues on a monthly basis for life Payment for each month. It will be deposited to the claimant’s bank account on the 16th day of the preceding month.

NOTE: Age Credits are not used to calculate the Retirement Grant. Actual total contributions paid are used to calculate the Retirement Grant.

Retirement Grant

A Retirement Grant, which is a one time lump sum payment, subject to a minimum of $3,000.00 paid to persons who have made less than 750 weekly contributions the minimum requirement for a basic pension.