PENSION PAIN

Years after retiring from the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), two former district constables say they are still without their full pensions, leaving them in financial distress and demanding answers.

Derrick Foster told The Gleaner he spent 36 years in the JCF working at the Pedro Plains Police Station in St Elizabeth before retiring.

Two years after his retirement, he said, he received an interim payment of about $800,000, which was intended to suffice until his final pension payment.

But, with those funds long depleted, the 74-year-old resident of Round Hill, St Elizabeth said he is frustrated with the prolonged delay.

“A mussi pray dem a pray fi mi dead,” he said. “All a mi life spend inna di police force, di best part of it, [and now] mi cya get mi money.”

Addressing the United District Constables Association conference in St Ann in December 2015, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced that district constables would become eligible for pensions on April 1, 2016.

Foster said that, after retiring in 2016, he submitted all the required documents and has repeatedly followed up with the JCF’s human resources (HR) department. However, years later, he says, he continues to be given the runaround.

“I did write up everything, and send it go HR. Dem have mi file with everything,” he said.

Former JCF members are entitled to outstanding leave payments, pension contributions and, in the case of those who served under 10 years, a payment for unused leave upon separation, whether through retirement or resignation.

There may be other entitlements, and deceased members’ families are also eligible for benefits.

The submission and processing of claims, including auditing and verification, are handled through the JCF and the Ministry of National Security and Peace (MNSP).

Foster said he and his wife have been living off the $17,000 he receives monthly from the National Insurance Scheme, which barely covers essentials such as electricity and groceries.

He used to do subsistence farming, but gave it up recently after developing visual impairment.

He had also invested in goat rearing but, about two months ago, he lost everything as his entire herd was mauled by stray dogs.

While he has two adult daughters, Foster said they are unable to provide much financial assistance, as one is a single mother to two children and the other is unemployed.

“Mi tell God doh, y’know, mi seh, ‘God, I lef it inna fi Yuh hand’,” he said.

PROGRESS BEING MADE

The MNSP had previously indicated to The Gleaner that there were 331 pension files at various stages of processing as at February 27, 2026. It noted that it was aiming for completion by “late July 2026”.

The ministry said on Monday that it would provide another update in mid-September.

Detective Sergeant Doris Stewart, chairman of the Jamaica Police Federation, told The Gleaner on Monday that she has been “reliably informed” that the number has been reduced to about 100.

Stewart said she was also told that officers who became pensionable in 2025 have already begun receiving the monies owed to them and that the backlog mainly affects those who left the JCF prior to that.

She noted that the federation has raised the issue in at least two meetings with the Police High Command since May, and was informed of measures being taken to address the backlog, including the establishment of a Pension Hub.

Nonetheless, she said, the federation is concerned about the delayed payment of pensions, lamenting the social and emotional impact on its members.

“It is not a given that a member will necessarily leave (retire) and get another job. So we must ensure that the members receive pension in a timely way to be able to take care of themselves and their families and protect the little assets they’ve been able to secure during their sterling service to this nation,” she said.

Meanwhile, Damion Pryce, president of the United District Constables Association, is urging members affected by delayed pension payments to reach out.

“The possibility exists that persons who have not received their pensions may have outstanding issues,” he said.

STILL DISAPPOINTED

Although a little better off financially than Foster, 72-year-old Tom Brown* is just as exasperated after not receiving his final pension payment since he retired six years ago.

The former district constable, who worked for 36 years at a police station in St Elizabeth, said he is disappointed in the government’s failure to honour its financial obligation to him in a timely manner.

“You’d expect to hear something. You dedicate yuhself so long and, at the end of the time, nothing is forthcoming,” he told The Gleaner. “Every time I go to HR, dem seh it a look ‘bout and nothing is coming forward … . Just that it’s been looked after and that’s about it. [They say] they’ll get back in touch with you and they don’t get in touch with you.”

Although grateful that he has his farm and his wife’s business to fall back on, Brown said it is imperative that the delayed pension issue be resolved out as soon as possible.

“They’re a lot of people who have retired and dem suffering till dem dead and they don’t get no pension,” he said. “It’s ridiculous, man. Ridiculous.”

Name changed on request.*

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com