22 Appeal Hearings During the reporting period, a total of 15 hearings were scheduled, compared to two in the last financial year. A total of 164 matters were heard from a listed 167 for hearing, a significant increase over that of 2016, which totalled 10 heard out of the 20 listed for hearing. From the matters heard, 47 were allowed, 20 were dismissed, 90 were adjourned and seven withdrawn. Reciprocal Agreements Canada and Trinidad and Tobago During the financial year, 11 applications were made by persons in Canada accessing benefits from Trinidad and Tobago through Service Canada, with 230 applications made through NIBTT’s Service Centres. In accordance with the reciprocal agreement, Trinidad and Tobago nationals as well as other non-nationals who contributed to this country’s NIS system, can access Retirement and Survivors’ Benefit from Canada. These types of claims resulted in 215 enquiries for contribution data transfer to assist applicants in qualifying for benefits provided by Service Canada. At the end of the financial period, 199 applications remained outstanding, awaiting contribution data information from APPEALS In accordance with Section 62 of the National InsuranceAct(NIAct),ourcustomersmaintained their right to refer decisions on claims to the Appeals Tribunal. As such, during the financial year, 213 appeal notices were received from the Appeals Tribunal. Of these, we responded to 207. The table below records the Appeals received by year and responses issued for the period 2014/2015, 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 as follows: Service Canada for persons who applied for Retirement, Funeral, Survivors’ Benefits and Death Benefit in Trinidad and Tobago. CARICOM and Trinidad and Tobago During the financial period, five applications were made through CARICOM Offices by persons accessing benefits from Trinidad and Tobago, in addition to which, 50 enquiries were received from CARICOM in respect of Trinidad and Tobago’s benefits. A total of 57 applications were made through the Service Centres apart from the CARICOM applications accessing Trinidad and Tobago benefits. To date, there have been approximately 37 responses from persons applying for benefit under this agreement. REVENUE Contribution Income Contribution income for FY2017 increased to $4,608.24Mn or 8.39% over the $4,251.70Mn collected in FY2016. In this regard, contributions were paid by 21,342 employers on behalf of 479,036 contributors, an increase of 863 employers and a decrease of 35,525 contributors over FY2016. Thus, in FY2017 the increase in contribution income is primarily due to an increase in the contribution rate from 12% to 13.2% and an increase of the maximum insurable earnings from $12,000 to $13,600. Additionally, we have continued to apply new strategies to enhance the NIBTT experience when employers contact our offices in person or online. This included improving our online payment facility by expanding online banking arrangements with two major banking institutions within the reporting period. During FY2017, 237 employer applications for use of the online facility were received. To date, 756 employers were approved to utilise this facility. An average of 233 or 31% of these employers remit contributions on behalf of 7,500 employees, monthly. We will continue to market these online facilities to make it easier for employers to conduct business with the NIBTT. Year No. of Appeals Responses Received Issued 2014/2015 196 166 2015/2016 215 153 2016/2017 213 207 Total 624 526