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a minimum of 5% and employees must contribute a maximum of 5%. Those who are self-employed are required to contribute 10% of their earnings to a pension plan. In May 2016, the National Pensions (amendment) Act 2016 was passed with over 50 provisions revised. A few of those changes to the Act include: > Adjusting the normal age of entitlement from the age of 60 to 65 for those who are 47 and younger as of 1st January 2017. Those who were 48 and older as of 1st January 2017, may still retire at 60 (early retirement at 50). > Raising the maximum annual pensionable earnings from CI$60,000 to CI$87,000. > Accessing voluntary contributions for housing, medical, educational, and unemployment purposes. > Non-compliance from employers can result in fines up to CI$10,000 and possible imprisonment. In April 2020, an amendment to the National Pensions Act was passed that enabled workers to access their private pension funds up to a certain amount to assist those who had been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme was open to both Caymanians and non-Caymanians, as well as those who are self-employed. Under the emergency-withdrawal scheme, private pension members could withdraw from their accounts 100% of their pension funds not exceeding CI$10,000, and 25% of funds in excess of CI$10,000. Those who left the Island after 1st February 2020 were also allowed to withdraw funds from their pensions. Public servants have not been granted access to their government pensions. This scheme drew to a close on 31st October 2020 by which time 43,000 applications had removed CI$489.3 million from thier pensions. The Government also implemented a ‘pension holiday’ retroactively from 1st April 2020 that was extended until 31st December 2021 in June 2021. It allowed
