Published 7th September 2012, 1:52pm

The Cayman Islands National Pensions Law was amended in 2011 to allow pension members to withdraw up to KYD$35,000.00 from their pension plan to purchase a home, construction of a home, pay off an existing mortgage or purchase a piece of residential land.

The Department of Labour and Pensions is pleased to provide the public with the statistics on the withdrawals since this option became available. The details are as follows:

• 143 applications have been received.  Out of those received:
• 137 have been approved
• 6 have been rejected

Of the 137 approved, which represents KYD$2.65 million disbursed:

• 17 have been for the construction of a dwelling unit at a value of KYD$294,218.00
• 36 have been to pay off existing mortgages at a value of KYD$934,383.00
• 78 have been for the purchase of a dwelling unit at a value of CI$1.325 million
• 6 have been for the purchase of land at a value of KYD$98,205

Commenting on the withdrawal of funds, Director of Labour and Pensions Mr. Mario Ebanks said: “In furtherance of the Department’s Mission of being a ‘one stop shop for private sector labour and pensions services and support’, the National Pensions Office (which is currently a unit within the Department of Labour & Pensions) is committed to improving its systems, databases, and other methodologies to ensure the timely and accurate delivery of information and technical support to its stakeholders.”

He continued, “Accordingly, statistics such as these, dealing with withdrawals from pension plans for worthy socio-economic causes in accordance with the Law, will be released regularly and at least on a quarterly basis. Subject to funding, the Department will enhance its databases, website, and generally leverage technology in order to achieve high quantitative and qualitative outputs.”

The Department of Labour and Pensions is now located on the 2nd floor of Mid-Town Plaza on Elgin Avenue and is open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday-Friday; telephone: 945-8960, fax: 945-8961, confidential hotline for labour and pensions complaints: 945-3073.

(GIS)