Unemployment Assistance

The Social Security Board and the Government of Anguilla have collaborated to provide a temporary Unemployment/Underemployment Assistance Benefit (UAB), for persons whose employment has been affected as a result of the global Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19).

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Full details of the operation of the Unemployment Benefit Assistance can be found in the SOCIAL SECURITY (UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE) (TEMPORARY BENEFITS) REGULATIONS, 2020.

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FOR EMPLOYEES AND THE SELF EMPLOYED

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Qualifying Factors

• For employees to qualify to receive a benefit, they must be registered in accordance with the provisions of the Social Security Act.
• They must have either been unemployed (i.e. either laid off or terminated) as a result of COVID-19,
• Or they must be underemployed (i.e. currently earning less than EC$1,000 a month) as a result of COVID-19.
• For self-employed persons, their business must have been closed as a result of COVID-19.
• Employees must have been unemployed or underemployed for 15 days or more prior to making a claim.
  • In calculating the time that persons have been unemployed or underemployed, public holidays are included but Sundays are excluded.
• Their employer must have been making Social Security contributions on their behalf for at least 50 weeks (not necessarily consecutive) prior to or up to February 1st, 2020.
• For claims to be valid they must be made on the official application form UAB-1 provided online.
• Self-employed persons may be required to provide Social Security with additional information to support their claim.

How Will Payments Be Made?

• Payments of EC$1,000 will be made to each claimant every 4 weeks for 3 months.
• The target date for commencing payments is April 30th, 2020.
• All claims must be made by the cut-off date of June 15th, 2020.
• Payments will continue to be made until June 30th, 2020.
• If an employee is receiving another Social Security benefit related to their inability to work, they will get the difference between that benefit and the EC$1,000 payment.
  • Eg: If the employee is receiving a maternity benefit of EC$600, then the payment amount will be EC$400.
• If an employee is currently working but is receiving less than EC$1,000, they will receive the difference between what they are earning and EC$1,000.
  • Eg: If an employee is working part-time and receiving a wage of EC$750 monthly, then that employee will be eligible to receive a payment amount of EC$250.

Ineligibility To Receive Payment

• Persons will not be eligible to receive Unemployment Assistance Benefit under the following circumstances.
  • If they are making more than EC$1,000 monthly.
  • If they were fired for misconduct.
  • If they voluntarily resigned from their position.
  • If they are receiving another Social Security benefit related to their inability to work which is more than EC$1,000.
  • If they are overseas for any reason other than for medical assistance.

Submission of Forms Online

• In accordance with the safety guidelines and social distancing protocol, the UAB will be an online process. An electronic platform is being created to facilitate the submission and processing of applications. Through this web application, persons are required to complete and submit their application claim forms.
• Persons who are eligible for the assistance are therefore encouraged to complete and submit their applications electronically via this online web application portal, using any electronic device such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC.
• The platform is expected to become available by April 20th, 2020, and can be accessed at uassistance.ai. The public will be duly notified when the platform is ready for application submissions and when payments are being made. Where necessary, guidance will be provided for completion and submission of the application forms via the web portal.

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FOR EMPLOYERS

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Validation Of Information By Employers

• In order to ensure that the information provided by employees is accurate, all employers are required to verify their employees’ information to the satisfaction of the Social Security Board.
• Once employees submit their UAB-1 Claim Forms, staff from the Social Security Office will reach out to their employers in order to have the information on their forms validated.
• Businesses who employ more than 15 persons will be provided with a special spreadsheet as an alternative means of providing employment information. Copy of Employee Status Validation Information for COVID 19 Unemployment Benefit.xlsx
• Those major employers who have already laid off and/or terminated staff are required to complete and send in the spreadsheet right away to Social Security.
• If an employer is considering laying off or terminating staff as a result of the impact of COVID-19, once those staff apply for unemployment assistance, that employer will be contacted by Social Security to validate their staff’s information.
• Please be aware that if employers fail to validate their employees’ information, such persons will be unable to receive a benefit under the programme.
• Any information that might be requested as part of the employer validation process must be submitted to the Social Security Board at [email protected].

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If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Social Security Office at telephone numbers (264) 497-2201/2 or 3201/2, or email at [email protected]

1. The assistance will take the form of payments of EC$800 payable at the end of every month for a period of 3 months beginning 30th April 2020.
2. The assistance is for persons who do not meet the requirements for accessing the Social Security benefit, either because they have not contributed to the fund or have not made sufficient contributions. These persons must have become:

a. Unemployed as a result of being laid off (temporary cessation of work); or terminated (permanent); or
b. Underemployed (ie. earning less than EC$800 a month);

After 1st February 2020 as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on their place or work/ business.
Note that:

• If such a person was earning less than EC$800 a month before the impact of Covid -19, that person can only receive assistance up to the amount of their actual salary before the impact. Eg. a person who regularly earned EC$600 a month can only receive a maximum of EC$600.
• If a person is receiving a social security benefit related to their inability to work (eg. maternity or sickness benefit), they are eligible to receive the difference between that benefit and EC$800.

3. The full amount of the assistance will be payable to everyone who is unemployed.

For the underemployed, the assistance payable would be the difference between EC$800 and what the person is earning (ie. EC$800 minus monthly salary).

4. For persons to receive assistance, they should have been unemployed or underemployed for a period of at least 15 days before making the claim for the assistance. Claims will not be accepted after 15th June 2020.
5. Persons must also demonstrate that they are either contributors to the social security scheme (but have not qualified for the Social Security benefit) or that they have registered to become contributors, as a condition of receiving this assistance.
6. Applications can be submitted online at the beatcovid19.ai website.