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Posted By: Marty Update on Unemployment Relief Program - 09/04/20 11:45 AM
Phase 2 of the Covid-19 Unemployment Relief Program opened for applications on August 3, 2020. The total number of applications received as of this morning, September 3rd, is 61,395.

Some improvements have been introduced in the application process in an effort to reduce errors. These include:

1. Immediate checks against Social Security Board (SSB) data to ensure that an applicant's name, Social Security Number (SSN) and date of birth matches with the information in the SSB system so as to ensure that incorrect SSNs cannot be entered and double applications in the same name are not possible;
2. Provision of guidance in entering banking information in order to reduce errors; and
3. Guidance in identifying and inserting employers' names.

In Phase 2, the National Bank of Belize has replaced the Social Security Board as the paying agent. Payment is now being made directly from bank to bank. This makes the payment process quicker and difficulties easier to resolve and removes the burden from SSB so they can return to their substantive work.

A unit within the Labour Department is processing the applications in Phase 2. In Phase 1, a small group of public officers had been selected and assisted tremendously. This was possible, at that time, because it was during the period of the COVID-19 lockdown and these persons worked from home. They are now back at their substantive posts, so a new set of arrangements needed to be made and personnel had to be trained.

The Government of Belize's Covid19.bz website has been updated with the ability to check on the status of an application. This facility can be found at https://payment.covid19.gov.bz/paymentstatus. Applicants are invited to use this facility to check the status of their application at any time.

Of the total applications received, 8,144 applications have been rejected where applicants:

1. Are BOOST recipients;
2. Receive Government or Social Security Pension;
3. Applied as "long term unemployed" in Phase 1 - that category is not available in phase 2;
4. Are below the age of 18; or
5. Appear in Social Security Board records as deceased persons.

Applicants who are informed that they have been excluded for any of these reasons, and feel that this should not have been done, may provide additional information by sending an email to [email protected] so that the application can be reviewed.

Almost 10,000 applicants submitted applications with incomplete information, such as missing banking information. These applicants have been notified and were given the opportunity to review and correct their applications. Many have already done so and 5,913 remain to be corrected. This number is decreasing daily.

Review of applications started on August 18th. This started slowly because the review team was in training. In the first week, only 1,489 applications were approved. In the second week ending September 2nd, 5,929 applications were approved. Approvals will continue to accelerate over the days ahead.

As of this morning, 7,418 applications have been approved. Of these, 6,621 payments have been processed by the National Bank. The Central Bank closed the automatic payment system on September 2nd as a part of the emergency preparation for Tropical Storm Nana. As soon as the system is re-opened payments will resume.

Payments are normally credited to applicants' bank accounts on the same day the payment instructions are sent to National Bank. In the case of credit unions, payments are sent to the credit union on the same day, but it may take a few working days for the credit unions to manually post the deposit to their members' accounts. In the case of TopUp prepaid cards, it can take three to four working days to prepare the Top UP cards and then to credit the payments to the card. There is an additional three to four working days for the card to be ready for delivery at the location nearest to the applicant.

Delivery of TopUp cards will be done through the Labour Department offices across the country. Approved applicants will be notified when the card has been prepared by Heritage Bank and will also be notified when it reaches the Labour Department office that is in the district in which the applicant lives - as per address provided at application. Recipients of Top Up cards are reminded that they will need to present a valid identification card in order to collect their card. They will also need to use the same telephone number they provided on their application to text Heritage Bank and receive their PIN to activate their TopUp card.
Posted By: Marty Re: Update on Unemployment Relief Program - 09/14/20 06:01 PM
Update on Unemployment Relief Program

The total number of applications received under Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program (URP) as of this morning, September 14, was 62,363. Of these, 20,197 applications have been approved and 18,364 payments were sent to National Bank of Belize for disbursement up to the end of last Friday. The remainder, which were approved during the past weekend, will be sent this morning.

In Phase 2, the National Bank of Belize has replaced the Social Security Board as the paying agent, so payments are now being made directly from bank to bank. Payments are now totally electronically processed, and the level of rejected payments has declined significantly. A total of 652 payments have been rejected so far and over a hundred have been rectified.

Applicants who have received a text message indicating that their deposit was rejected are reminded to follow through on the process for rectifying their banking information so that payments can be properly processed. Applicants should ask their bank how to set out their bank account number, including any transit codes that may be needed, in order to receive electronic payments.

Payments are normally credited electronically to applicants' bank accounts on the same day the payment instructions are sent to National Bank. Payments to credit union accounts are also sent on the same day; however, it may take a few working days for the credit unions to manually post deposits to their members' accounts. In the case of TopUp prepaid cards, it takes up to three working days to prepare the cards, and an additional three to four working days for the cards to be taken to the location nearest to the applicant for pick up. Persons who received Unemployment Relief Payments via TopUp cards in Phase 1 are reminded that, if they are approved again in Phase 2, the same TopUp card can be re-used. Please hold on to your card.

As of this week, delivery of Phase 2 TopUp cards will be done through the Labour Department offices across the country. Approved applicants will be notified when the card has been prepared and it is available for pick up at the Labour Department office that is in the district in which you live.

Recipients of TopUp cards are reminded that they will need to present a valid identification card in order to collect their TopUp card. They will also need to use the same telephone number they provided on their application to send a text message to Heritage Bank and receive their PIN to activate their TopUp card.

The public should note that there still remain about 1,000 TopUp cards at Social Security Board offices for persons approved under Phase 1 of URP that have not been picked up. Efforts are being made to reach each affected person individually so that they may pick up these cards from Social Security Offices by the end of this month. Only these last cards remaining from Phase 1 are at Social Security Board offices. No Phase 2 cards can be picked up from Social Security Board offices.

Over 11,000 applications have been excluded where applicants:

1. Are BOOST recipients;
2. Receive Government or Social Security Pension;
3. Applied as "long term unemployed" in Phase 1 - that category is not available in phase 2;
4. Are below the age of 18;
5. Appear in Social Security Board records as deceased persons; or
6. Have identified an employer that says they do not, or have never worked at their business establishment.

Applicants are reminded that if they receive a message that they have been excluded and feel that this is an error, they may provide additional information by sending an email to [email protected] so that their application can be reviewed.

The public is also reminded that Government of Belize's covid19.bz website allows all applicants to check on the status of their application by following this link: https://payment.covid19.gov.bz/paymentstatus. Applicants are invited to use this platform to check the status of their application at any time.
Posted By: Marty Re: Update on Unemployment Relief Program - 09/29/20 10:36 AM
Update on Unemployment Relief Program

Belmopan. September 28, 2020. 1:00 p.m.

The total number of applications received under Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program as of this morning, September 28, is 64,252. Of these, 30,544 applications have been approved, all of which have been sent to the National Bank of Belize for payment.

Total applications received 64,252

Number on Excluded list 13,019

Applicants requested to make corrections 3,447

Applications remaining to be reviewed 17,243

Total approvals so far 30,544

Applicants can check the status of their application using the following link on the Government of Belize's covid19.bz website: https://payment.covid19.gov.bz/paymentstatus/. To seek information and clarification on their applications, applicants can also send an email to [email protected].

Rejected payments

In Phase 2, the level of rejected payments continues to be significantly lower than in Phase 1 with a total of 973 payments rejected so far. Of these, 499 applicants have provided corrected banking information and have been successfully paid.

Applicants who have received a text message indicating that their deposit was rejected are reminded to follow through on the process for correcting their banking information so that payments can be successfully processed. Please ask your bank how to set out your bank account number, including any transit codes that may be needed, in order to receive electronic payments.

Applicants are advised to use bank and credit union accounts in their own name and to avoid using accounts in the name of other persons. When corrected banking information is submitted, please remember to include, in addition to the bank account number, your name and social security number to ensure you can be properly identified.

Processing of Payments by National Bank of Belize

The National Bank sends through electronic payments to approved applicants' accounts on the same day that payment instructions are received. Applicants who use their commercial bank accounts will normally see payments in their accounts on the same day. Payments to credit union accounts are also sent on the same day, but it normally takes a few working days for the credit unions to manually post deposits to their members' accounts.

In the case of TopUp prepaid cards, it takes several working days to prepare the TopUp cards, and an additional three to four days for the card to be taken to the location nearest to the applicant for pick up. Persons who received Unemployment Relief payments via TopUp cards in Phase 1 are reminded that, if they are approved again in Phase 2, the same TopUp card can be reused. Applicants are advised to hold on to their cards. When requesting a TopUp Card, please do not select "direct deposit" as your method of payment. Select ONLY "TopUp Card" as your method of payment.

Delivery of TopUp Cards

Delivery of Phase 2 TopUp cards is being done through the Labour Department offices across the country. Approved applicants will be notified when the card has been prepared and is available for pick up at the Labour Department Office that is in the district in which you live. Recipients of TopUp cards are reminded that they will need to present a valid identification card in order to collect their TopUp card. They will also need to use the same telephone number they provided on their application to send a text to Heritage Bank in order to receive their PIN to activate their TopUp card.

Excluded Applications

As of today, 13,019 applications are on a list of exclusions. These are applications from persons who fall under one of the following categories:

1. BOOST recipients;

2. Receive Government or Social Security Pension;

3. Applied as "long-term unemployed" in Phase 1 --- that category is not available in phase 2;

4. Are below the age of 18;

5. Appear in the Social Security Board database as deceased persons; or

6. Have identified an employer that says the applicant did not work at their business establishment and follow up verification does not adequately clarify the situation.

Applicants are reminded that if they check their status and see that they have been excluded for the reasons stated above, and feel that this is an error, they may provide additional information by sending an email to [email protected] so that their application can be reviewed. Even as additional applicants have been automatically added to the excluded list, hundreds have been removed once the information is provided.

Period covered by Phase 2

Phase 2 of Unemployment Relief was intended to cover the three-month period August to October. All efforts are being made to ensure that all six payments are processed for all approved applicants by the end of October. For those who are being approved later in Phase 2, there will be some acceleration of payments as we come to the end of Phase 2, similar to what took place at the end of Phase 1.

Fake COVID-19 Messages

The public is advised that there are text messages coming from an unknown source informing person that funds have been deposited into their bank accounts. In the instances where this has been brought to our attention, these persons have not applied for Unemployment Relief, but leave their homes to go to Government Offices to follow up on what appears to be unsolicited offers of money. These messages are not coming from the Government of Belize's Unemployment Relief Program (URP) and, therefore, should be disregarded.
Posted By: Marty Re: Update on Unemployment Relief Program - 10/08/20 07:50 PM
No Further Distribution of Unemployment Relief TopUp Cards by the Social Security Board

The Unemployment Relief Program hereby informs the public that the Labour Department has collected the last 590 TopUp cards remaining from Phase 1 of the Unemployment Relief Program from the Social Security Board.

There will, therefore, be no further distribution of cards from the Social Security Board. The Labour Department will make a final attempt to reach these remaining beneficiaries who have not collected cards from Phase 1.

There are an additional 79 cards that have been retrieved from ATMs and the Department will continue to try to reach the owners of these cards.

The Unemployment Relief Program thanks the Social Security Board for all the assistance and support provided during Phase 1 of the program
Posted By: Marty Re: Update on Unemployment Relief Program - 10/10/20 10:15 AM
Update on Unemployment Relief Program

Applications and approvals

The total number of applications received under Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program (URP) as of October 8, 2020 was 66,859. Of these, 42,575 applications have been approved and sent to National Bank of Belize for payment.

Of the approved applications, 23,818 were from laid off persons and 18,757 were self-employed persons. Approvals are almost evenly divided between males and females.

While applicants who use their commercial bank accounts have been receiving their payments in their accounts on the same day or the following day, payments to credit union accounts continue to take a few working days for the credit unions to manually post deposits to their members' accounts. If applicants use the online status checker and get a message that "funds have been successfully deposited to the bank account provided at application," they should first check with their bank or credit union before calling or messaging URP to request an update on their payment.

Applicants can continue to check the status of their application by following this link on the Government of Belize's covid19.bz website: https://payment.covid19.gov.bz/paymentstatus/

TopUp Cards

In the case of TopUp prepaid cards, it is taking up to a week to have the TopUp cards prepared, plus an additional three to four working days for the cards to be taken to the location nearest to the applicant for pick up. This is because of the relatively large number of TopUp cards - a total of 12,536 so far - that have been approved.

Delivery of TopUp cards is being done through the Labour Department offices across the country. Approved applicants will be notified when the card is available for pick up at the Labour Department office that is in the district in which you live.

Recipients of TopUp cards are reminded that they will need to present a valid identification card in order to collect their TopUp card. They will also need to use the same telephone number they provided on their application to send a text to Heritage Bank in order to receive their PIN to activate their card.

Recipients are expected to follow the protocols for physical distancing and to wear their masks when they go to pick up their cards in order to protect themselves and the staff of the Labour Department.

Payments Rejected by Financial Institutions

A total of 1,817 payments have been rejected by financial institutions because of errors with applicants' account information. Of these, 1,060 remain to be corrected. Applicants who see a status message indicating that their deposit was rejected are reminded to follow the process for correcting their banking information so that payments can be successfully processed. Please ask your bank "how to set out the bank account number, including any transit codes that may be needed in order to receive electronic payments."

When you send in corrected banking information, please remember to include, in addition to the bank account number, your name and Social Security number to ensure you can be properly identified. Applicants are advised to use bank and credit union accounts in their own name and to avoid using accounts in the name of other persons.

Excluded Applications

As of October 8th, 14,862 applications are on a list of exclusions. Applicants are reminded that they are placed on the excluded list if they fall under at least ONE of the following categories:

1. BOOST recipients;
2. Receive Government or Social Security Pension;
3. Applied as "long term unemployed" in Phase 1; that category is not available in phase 2;
4. Are below the age of 18;
5. Appear in the Social Security Board database of deceased persons; or
6. Have identified an employer that says the applicant did not work at their business establishment and follow up verification does not adequately clarify the situation.

Applicants are also reminded that if they check their status and see that they have been excluded for the reasons stated above and feel that this is an error, they may provide additional information by sending an email to [email protected] so that their application can be reviewed.
Posted By: Marty Re: Update on Unemployment Relief Program - 10/14/20 10:08 AM
Summary Status Report on Unemployment Relief Program

As of 4:00 p.m. today, October 13, 2020, Phase Two of the Unemployment Relief Program is closed to further applications. Applications that have already been made will continue to be processed and applicants can continue to check the status of applications at https://payment.covid19.gov.bz/paymentstatus.

A total of 67,555 applications were received and, of these, 42,890 have been approved and sent to the National Bank of Belize for payment. A total of 14,899 applications were excluded because applicants were recipients of other government programs or had applied as Long Term Unemployed in Phase One. There were also a few applications from persons whose names are in the Social Security database as deceased persons. Persons who believe they have been erroneously excluded can send information to [email protected] so their applications can be reviewed.

The financial commitment to all approved persons totals $38.6 million. Of this, $14.3 million has been paid out so far. Cabinet today confirmed that all six payments of $150 each to all approved applicants will be paid by the beginning of November at the latest. After the upcoming General Elections, the new government will be able to give consideration to a Phase Three, taking into account the economic and fiscal outlook and the continuing needs of unemployed persons.

Over the next four weeks, all efforts will be made to ensure that applicants who need to make corrections to bank accounts are reminded to do so and all corrections will be processed. Of the 1,817 payments that have been returned because of incorrect banking information, 938 applications remain to be corrected. If applicants check their status and get a message that payment has been rejected, they are asked to please follow the steps to send in the corrected bank account information so that they can receive payment.

The completion and distribution of TopUp Cards is being given high priority and cards are being delivered to those in need. Delivery of TopUp cards has been affected by staff movements, by contact of staff with persons who may have been in contact with COVID-19 infected persons, and by the sheer number of cards being produced. The number of cards requested by applicants who have been approved amounts to 12,709 so far.
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