look news india
A big relief news has come from the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) for more than 7 crore organized sector salaried employees and pensioners of the country. EPFO has launched a special and simplified initiative (Special Scheme & Unified Digital Clean-up) for those employees whose provident fund (PF), pension (EPS) and insurance claims were stuck for years due to change of job, closure of companies, technical glitches in Aadhaar-PAN linking or non-updation of records by former employers. With the implementation of this system, employees will be able to withdraw money from their old non-operative and silent PF accounts without visiting any office and will be able to secure their insurance and pension rights.
Years old inoperative PF accounts will be directly disposed of
According to EPFO rules, when no new contribution is deposited in a PF account for 36 consecutive months (3 years), then that account goes into ‘inoperative’ category. Employees’ hard earned money deposited in lakhs of such accounts remained unclaimed. Under the new special arrangement, EPFO has upgraded its Universal Account Number (UAN) database and advance auto-claim settlement system. Now even if an employee has a 10-15 years old PF account, he will be able to merge that old account with the current account only through his active UAN and biometric authenticated Aadhaar and withdraw the entire amount in lump sum.
How to get free EDLI insurance cover up to ₹7 lakh?
EPFO not only provides PF and interest but also provides the security cover of life insurance to all active account holders under the ‘Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme’ (EDLI Scheme):
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Free Insurance Benefits: There is no deduction from the employee’s salary for this scheme, its entire premium is paid by the company (employer).
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Maximum cover up to ₹7 lakh: In case of untimely death of an employee during service, his nominee or legal heir is given a lump sum sum assured ranging from a minimum of ₹ 2.5 lakh to a maximum of ₹ 7 lakh.
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Special Claim Process: Under the new system, if in any old case the nominee could not get the claim due to lack of information, then the insurance amount is being sent directly to the bank account after online verification of the documents through digital e-nomination and death claim portal.
Right to lifetime pension under Employees Pension Scheme (EPS-95)
Employees who have completed at least 10 years of total service in the organized sector are entitled to a monthly pension on completion of 58 years of age under the ‘Employees’ Pension Scheme’ (EPS 1995) of EPFO. Under the new scheme:
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Pension Transfer Facility: Many times, pension service records got divided into pieces due to change of companies. EPFO has now completely digitalized the ‘Scheme Certificate’, through which the eligibility of 10 years can be easily certified by linking together the service period of different companies.
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Complete Withdrawal on Less than 10 Years of Service: If the total employment is less than 10 years, then the employee can withdraw the entire pension fund amount along with interest through Form 10C.
Online steps to get years old PF and claim
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UAN Activate and KYC Update: Visit EPFO Member Seva Portal (unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in), activate your UAN and link Aadhaar, PAN and correct IFSC code of bank account.
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One Member – One EPF Account: Go to ‘Online Services’ tab on the portal and click on ‘One Member – One EPF Account (Transfer Request)’ and transfer all the old PF member IDs to the current account online.
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Mandatory filling of e-Nomination: Complete e-Nomination of family members in your profile so that future insurance (EDLI) and pension claims can be passed immediately without any hassle.
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Auto-Mode Claim Submission: Fill and submit online Form 19 (PF Withdrawal), Form 10C (Pension Withdrawal) or Form 31 (Advance). Under the auto-settlement system, eligible claims are processed in 3 to 4 working days.