Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced a push for local collaborative development of a custom digital platform that will underpin the country’s new National Portable Benefits Framework, a landmark reform designed to close a critical gap in the island nation’s social security system. Addressing the House of Assembly this Tuesday, Mottley outlined that the new framework will finally extend access to National Insurance and Social Security Service (NISSS) benefits to workers in non-traditional and gig economy roles, a demographic long excluded from the existing 60-year-old social safety net. Instead of waiting for external contractors or lengthy procurement processes, Mottley called for immediate cross-agency cooperation between the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, and government tech body Govtech, alongside a public call for young, locally trained Barbadian software developers to lead the platform’s creation. The core function of the custom digital tool will be to track working hours across multiple concurrent jobs for gig, freelance, short-term contract and digital remote workers, enabling the portable benefits system to operate seamlessly and efficiently. Mottley emphasized that this reform is a necessary evolution of Barbados’ social security structure, which was designed decades ago for a traditional, permanent full-time workforce and no longer aligns with the realities of the 21st century labour market. She called on Labour Minister Colin Jordan and backbench Member of Parliament Toni Moore to coordinate moving the plan forward, framing it as a natural next step in ongoing actuarial research for NISSS reform. The Prime Minister also highlighted the direct fiscal stake the Ministry of Finance has in the project, noting that unprotected informal and gig workers who face financial hardship later in life ultimately become a public burden on the Barbadian state. “If these people are not given an opportunity to be able to benefit from the NIS, they become a charge on the state of Barbados and I really believe that the Minister of Finance does not want his liabilities to extend in that direction whatsoever,” she said. Modern digital technology removes the historic barriers to tracking irregular work across multiple employers, Mottley explained, making the portable benefits framework logistically and financially feasible. The proposed platform will legally require registration of all gig and part-time work, with advanced digital tools enabling fast, accurate processing of contribution and benefit calculations for workers. “We are now after 58 years, 59 this year of a social security system finally prepared to make the social security system fully functional in all of its ways for people as opposed to people only having to fit in to the straight difficult rigid rules of the system,” she added. Mottley also used the address to urge consistent contribution to the NIS system among self-employed workers, noting that thousands of Barbadian professionals, tradespeople and independent workers currently avoid regular contributions, only to face severe financial hardship or poverty in retirement. She specifically cited examples including taxi drivers, fishermen, carpenters, lawyers, doctors and engineers who have fallen into avoidable hardship due to gaps in their social security contributions. Looking ahead, Mottley tied the expansion of social protection to growing global risks, including future pandemics and climate-related public health crises, noting that irregular workers are the most exposed to sudden economic shocks. Workers with multiple employers or variable working hours remain one of the largest unaddressed gaps in the current NISSS system, she confirmed. Framing the reform as a landmark milestone for the program, Mottley described the National Portable Benefits Framework as “the best gift we can give the country and the NIS system both for their Diamond Jubilees” as the social security program approaches its 60th anniversary.