Prime Minister Andrew Holness says plans are now in place to revamp the Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) used to select prospective beneficiaries of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH).

This comes amid scores of persons expressing their discontent with the current selection process for prospective beneficiaries.

“We have decided that we are going to do a massive overhaul of the PATH programme in significant ways to ensure that the Beneficiary Identification System (BIS) is far more targeted than it is now,” said the prime minister, who was speaking at a quarterly press conference on Thursday, August 3.

The prime minister said that he has received complaints from Jamaicans who have expressed an interest in becoming a part of the programme, but were told that they are not qualified despite a lack of income.

“There is clearly a refining that needs to happen in the entire beneficiary identification system for PATH, so that will be addressed to ensure that we are picking up persons in our society who are genuinely in need of that social safety net support,” Holness said.

The PATH programme was launched in 2002 and administered by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to provide assistance through cash grants to targeted groups in society such as children, the elderly and persons living with a disability.

Individuals are selected to become a beneficiary of PATH based on demographic and socio-economic data factors. This information is then entered into the BIS system, which applies a proxy means test to determine the eligibility of individuals.

The BIS score, along with the necessary verification from the Labour Ministry, is used to determine an individual’s eligibility.

The prime minister also noted that the Government will also be pooling additional resources in the back-to-school programme to ensure that students are provided with the necessary assistance.

“We will also ensure that our schools, the resources that they need to get back up very quickly, that those resources are upfront in the Budget and you will hear of more targeted programmes, for example, the students who are going to be doing the PEP [Primary Exit Profile] exam are supported,” he said.