Six months after the government’s stated deadline for disbursing pandemic-related wage compensation to eligible public sector employees, hundreds of affected workers in Antigua and Barbuda are still waiting for the funds they were promised, pushing one affected staffer to publicly call for clarity from government authorities.
Back when the compensation program was first announced, the Antigua and Barbuda administration laid out a clear roadmap for delivering backpay to public workers whose salaries were interrupted or cut off amid the COVID-19 public health crisis. Permanent Secretaries across government departments were directed to lead the initial phase of the process: identifying eligible workers, compiling their submitted claims, and cross-verifying the information to confirm eligibility. Claimants were given a firm deadline of December 31, 2025, to submit all required documentation, after which verified claims would be passed to the national Treasury Department for final processing. According to the original timeline, disbursements were scheduled to begin in January 2026.
It is now June 2026, half a year after payments were supposed to start. A large number of compliant claimants who followed all procedural rules and had their verified files sent to the Treasury have yet to receive any form of compensation. To date, hundreds of affected employees across multiple public departments have reported receiving no funds at all, with no official explanation for the hold-up.
In an open letter addressed to the editor of the local publication, one concerned public sector employee has called on relevant government bodies to break their silence and deliver a formal update on the program’s status. The letter outlines four key questions that eligible workers are demanding answers to: First, has the Treasury Department completed its internal verification and processing of all submitted claims that were transferred over by department heads? Second, what is the revised, realistic timeline for disbursing the owed compensation to approved claimants? Third, what specific outstanding issues, if any, are responsible for the six-month delay beyond the original launch date for payments? Finally, when can eligible workers reasonably expect to receive the money the government pledged to them?
The letter notes that most affected workers have remained patient throughout the process, abiding by all the requirements laid out by the government. An official public update, the author argues, would provide much-needed clarity and ease the financial uncertainty that many workers have been grappling with for months. The author closed by thanking the publication for drawing attention to the unaddressed issue.