Some 2,000 beneficiaries from the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) have been targeted for a pilot programme which will see them being able to access their PATH benefit using a bank card.

The pilot will be conducted for six months by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the ministry with responsibility for the programme. It will allow PATH beneficiaries to use a cash card to access their benefits through any National Commercial Bank (NCB) automated banking machine (ABM).

Cash card pilot

The prepaid cash card pilot, which started last month, targets beneficiaries from six post office locations in the parishes of Kingston, St. Catherine and Manchester.

According to Marcia Bolt, assistant project director of the programme, beneficiaries will able to check account balances and make purchases from merchants who accept NCB Keycard. They will not incur any service charge for withdrawals from the ABM machines, nor will they have the option to make deposits to the account.

She said cardholders would be notified, through a text message each time PATH deposits funds to their card.

Significant improvement

Derrick Kellier, Minister of Labour and Social Security who officially launched the new alternative on Tuesday, said the initiative was a "revolutionary new product and a significant improvement in service delivery" that will provide the best possible service to all the beneficiaries.

"This will create a movement away from the traditional method of bi-monthly cheque disbursements through post offices islandwide," he said.

PATH currently prepares over 85,000 cheques to approximately 190,000 beneficiaries, "a process that is tedious and sometimes results in delays," said the minister.

He also praised the programme as a "fine example of public and private sector partnership" and the kind of collaboration that other government entities and private companies should be encouraged to undertake in the interest of the people of Jamaica.

Ms Bolt told The Gleaner that the ministry will expand the initiative islandwide, on a phase-by-phase basis, by next April.

- D.R.