The Tribune

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE National Insurance Board has paid out more than $460,000 in unemployment benefits to Abaco and Grand Bahama Hurricane Dorian victims.

According to Public Service Minister Brensil Rolle, who has responsibility for NIB, 1,699 unemployment claims were received, with the organisation so far expending $464,985.

Asked how NIB was paying for the increase in the benefit due to the Category Five hurricane, Mr Rolle said: “We are paying for it from NIB funds.”

However, the minister said, he was in discussions with colleagues to implement a skills training programme for people receiving unemployment cheques. He said it was an alternative to people simply staying home and collecting cheques.

“NIB is obligated to pay you for 13 weeks for unemployment assistance,” Mr Rolle told reporters yesterday.

“I figure, and I am talking to two of my other colleagues, we could combine using funds allocated from (the) Inter-American Development Bank and another agency to put a comprehensive programme together so that we pay individuals as a matter of restructuring their lives.

“So we (are) at a stage where we are considering and having that discussion and the idea is that rather than me paying your unemployment and you staying home, we’ll set up a programme to either give you cross-training or some additional skills and some skill sets so that when we start to rebuild you can use those skills and that is the direction we are taking now.”

Earlier this month, 900 people were said to have claimed unemployment benefits.

Pandora Butler, chief manager in the office of the director at NIB told The Nassau Guardian that the board had expected a spike in claims.

“We expected that because a lot of people now would be without jobs, they may be terminated because the jobs are no longer available, or may just be laid off while the employers are rebuilding. So, we expected high unemployment and we prepared for it.”

In the days following Dorian’s passage, NIB implemented a one-stop shop at its Baillou Hill Road headquarters with the Department of Labour to accommodate the registering of unemployed survivors into the labour force database at the same time the unemployment claims are made.

NIB also accelerated the processing of claims for persons from the affected islands.