National Insurance Corporation (NIC)

Social Security came to St Lucia in 1970 in the form of the National Provident Fund (NPF). The NPF was a form of compulsory savings, where both employer and employee made contributions on behalf of the employee.

The NPF in St Lucia received five percent (5%) of gross wages paid to an employee (up to an established maximum) together with an equal amount paid by his employer. These funds would be accumulated at the Fund and paid with interest when the worker made a legitimate claim.

Employees joined the Fund at age sixteen and had to contribute up to age sixty when they received a lump sum payment made up of their contributions plus interest accrued thereon.

The NPF had provisions for three main benefits:-

old age benefit
survivors benefit
invalidity benefit
On registering with the Fund, a contributor had to name a beneficiary who would receive the benefits if he died before attaining the requisite age.

NIC pays survivors pensions to dependents of the deceased instead of a named beneficiary. Invalidity pensions and grants are also paid. In addition there are a number of short term benefits: sickness, maternity and employment injury.