Pensioners to benefit from mobile life certificate collection drive

More than 2,000 government pensioners islandwide are to benefit from a life certificate mobile collection drive by the Accountant General's Department (AGD).

From September 5 to17, the department will visit 11 of the 14 parishes, giving individuals the opportunity to submit, collect and certify life certificates, and get customer service support on the spot.

The tour is being done in partnership with the Jamaica Library Service (JLS) that has provided select locations in each area to facilitate the exercise.

A schedule can be viewed on the department's website at www.treasury.gov.jm.

Acting director of communication and customer service, Kelsea Chambers, said the initiative offers government pensioners a better way of interacting with the AGD.

“We are very excited to host this again. In the mid pandemic world, our customers are demanding more accessibility and their expectations of the organisation are greater. We want to give [pensioners] easier and faster ways to deliver their life certificates to the AGD,” Chambers told JIS News.

Pensioners only need a valid government-issued identification card to get assistance during the mobile drive.

Accommodation will be made to allow non-beneficiaries to collect certificates on behalf of shut-ins or persons otherwise unable to make it to the venues on the days the Department visits.

Chambers said verification measures will be employed to ensure a smooth and legitimate process.

She indicated that the drive “does not replace pensioners being able to receive their life certificates in the mail.”

“It is a supplemental service that we are providing because we only have one office in the island; so, we want to be proactive in reaching out,” Chambers added.

The department has committed to staging mobile life certificate collection drives for the rest of the year, with the next event slated for December.

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