GOB: Over 20,000 applications approved for unemployment relief phase 2

By BBN Staff: The Government of Belize informed that as of September 14th, the total number of applications received for Phase 2 of the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program (URP) was 62,363.

Of these, 20,197 applications have been approved and 18,364 payments were sent to National Bank of Belize for disbursement up to the end of last Friday.

The remainder, which were approved during the past weekend, will be sent this morning.

“In Phase 2, the National Bank of Belize has replaced the Social Security Board as the paying agent, so payments are now being made directly from bank to bank.  Payments are now totally electronically processed, and the level of rejected payments has declined significantly,” the statement noted.

Over 100 banking information for payments have been rectified and 652 were rejected.

Applicants who have received a text message indicating that their deposit was rejected are reminded to follow through on the process for rectifying their banking information so that payments can be properly processed.

Applicants should ask their bank how to set out their bank account number, including any transit codes that may be needed, in order to receive electronic payments.

Payments are normally credited electronically to applicants’ bank accounts on the same day the payment instructions are sent to National Bank. 

Payments to credit union accounts are also sent on the same day; however, it may take a few working days for the credit unions to manually post deposits to their members’ accounts.

 In the case of TopUp prepaid cards, it takes up to three working days to prepare the cards, and an additional three to four working days for the cards to be taken to the location nearest to the applicant for pick up.

Persons who received Unemployment Relief Payments via TopUp cards in Phase 1 are reminded that, if they are approved again in Phase 2, the same TopUp card can be reused. Please hold on to your card.

“As of this week, delivery of Phase 2 TopUp cards will be done through the Labour Department offices across the country.  Approved applicants will be notified when the card has been prepared and it is available for pick up at the Labour Department office that is in the district in which you live,” the statement further added.

Recipients of TopUp cards are reminded that they will need to present a valid identification card in order to collect their TopUp card.

They will also need to use the same telephone number they provided on their application to send a text message to Heritage Bank and receive their PIN to activate their TopUp card.

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