ILO News | 01 February 2024 The Social Security Board (SSB) of Anguilla is assessing and addressing barriers to social protection coverage faced by its local informal sector through a diagnostic research process delivered in collaboration with the ILO Caribbean Office. The study is supported by the Joint Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Fund Programme “Resilient Caribbean”.
It focuses on providing evidence-based research to identify the root causes behind the exclusion of informal workers and enterprises in social security with an aim to introduce new policies that reduce gaps and facilitate their move to the formal economy. To collect data, the SSB and the ILO organized and hosted a mission that featured several in-person focus groups with self-employed informal workers from 28 to 30 January 2024.
The sessions included participants from a cross-section of sectors including auto mechanics, barbers, constructions workers, fisherfolk and hairdressers. “Information gathered from the discussions will help to identify challenges experienced by informal workers and enterprises and determine targeted solutions that will increase their ability to meet requirements for entry to the formal sector and by extension to social security.
The ILO is proud of our collaboration with the SSB to facilitate more equitable access to social protection, which will reduce poverty and inequalities, increase youth employment, and enhance socio-economic resilience of households,” said Kyana Bowen, ILO National Project Coordinator, who co-led the mission. As a result of the focus groups, the SSB was able to provide clarification and awareness of the social security benefits for which self-employed people are entitled.
Workers also expressed that they recognized the importance of making contributions to support long-term planning for their families and business. After the sessions, the SSB requested additional support from the ILO to encourage greater financial inclusion by building linkages with banks and other institutions who require SSB registration from persons applying for their services, such as loans.
The SSB also emphasized the need to develop and implement policies to allow persons who are formally employed and operate small businesses to pay SSB contributions according to the income of the small business, which is usually higher than that of a formally employed worker. During the three-day mission, Kyana Bowen also had the opportunity to have a high-level engagement with the Honourable Premier, Dr Ellis Lorenzo Webster, to discuss the progress of the diagnostic study and its benefits.
She appeared on Radio Anguilla as part of SSB public awareness efforts. “The ILO is working with the Social Security Board on extension of coverage to informal workers. We noted that coming out of COVID-19 that self-employed, informal workers and economic units were impacted.
They had difficulties in terms of recovering from that economic fallout that they would have experienced. Going forward we want to be more resilient, not just as a community but also on an individual level as well. So, the ILO is very happy to be here partnering with the SSB on this initiative,” explained Kyana Bowen during the Radio Anguilla interview.
“We find that most of the time, the large employers are the ones registered with social security – those in the formal economy who are paying contributions into social security. Although we have a programme for the self-employed to register and pay into social security, we know that a large portion of them are not participating and therefore are not covered and as a consequence without the social protection you find in the formal economy,” said Rosanna Browne, Public Relations Officer of the Anguilla SSB, who also participated in the interview.
As a follow-up to the focus groups, the process will advance towards data analysis and reporting of the focus groups along with costing estimates to match recommendations for increasing access to social security coverage for informal workers and economic units in Anguilla.
