Assessing the Digital Readiness for Cross-border Portability of Social Security Benefits in CARICOM

Overview

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) faces a persistent implementation gap with respect to its CARICOM Reciprocal Agreement on Social Security (1996). However, the underlying reasons for this have not been systematically analysed. With some 19.6% of the Caribbean resident population working abroad (UNDESA, 2024; IOM, 2025), the region has a high level of labour mobility. Its labour market is increasingly regional and globally connected and circular and seasonal migration are common. These factors have led to a rise in the demand for the portability of pensions and other social insurance entitlements across borders.

The report was jointly prepared by the International Labour Organization (ILO), International Social Security Association (ISSA) and the United Nations University Operating Unit on Policy-Driven Electronic Governance (UNU-EGOV) under the Digital Convergence Initiative.

Why this publication matters:

The primary objective of this report is to provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of the digital systems, solutions capabilities and arrangements used to support social security administration and the cross-border portability of benefits across CARICOM member states, associate members, observers, and other jurisdictions in the region. The analysis focuses on identifying the legal, administrative, technical, data and cross-border exchange-related barriers which constrain secure and efficient interoperability. The findings will be used to generate actionable and context-sensitive recommendations to improve both the domestic and cross-border coordination of entitlements and, thus, social security portability.

Key findings:

• There is a strong demand for portability. 19.6% of the Caribbean resident population works abroad, yet implementation of the 1996 CARICOM Reciprocal Agreement on Social Security remains uneven
• Cross-border claims coordination is the most requested service, but delivery capacity does not keep up with demands
• A regional legal foundation exists, but only 4 of 23 jurisdictions have explicit cross-border provisions and only 2 of 23 fully support electronic exchange of social security data
• Administrative systems are operational, but none of the survey respondents has an end-to-end digital workflow
• All core datasets are stored electronically, but data flows remain manual, with no regional data dictionary or common validation rules

Required citation:

DCI, ILO, ISSA and UNU-EGOV. 2026. Assessing the Digital Readiness for
Cross-border Portability of Social Security Benefits in CARICOM.