The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth has apologised to the staff of its 2014 National Summer Camps programme over the delay in processing outstanding payments.
According to Minister Stephen Lashley, in order to facilitate and maintain its commitment to delivering a free, structured and supervised summer programme for Barbadian youth aged 4 to 15, the Ministry sought and received alternative funding support.
“The history of payment of camp staff has been that once the first tranche is paid, the other payments follow quickly thereafter. Camp staff would therefore have been paid in three installments: the first payment at the end of week two of the Camps; the second payment at the end of week four; and the final payment at the end of week five. Unfortunately, the traditional payment pattern had to be altered because of the disbursement mechanisms of the new funding source, which fall outside the Ministry???s ambit,” Mr. Lashley stated.
Apologising for the delay, the Minister said that all the facilities were now in place to ensure that the outstanding payments would be speedily processed. He assured camp staff that as soon as payments were ready, they would be individually contacted and given the date and time when their cheques could be collected.
The National Summer Camps programme was held from July 14 to August 15, one week short of the previously obtained six week summer programme.??According to the Minister, the reduction in the duration of the National Camps and the number of camps was due to a reduced budget which not only affected the National Camps, but other programmes in the Ministry.