SSNIT urges contributors to update records regularly

Mrs Rose Kwei, Internal Economy Desk Officer of Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), has advised contributors of the Social Security and  National Insurance Trust (SSNIT)  to constantly update their records to fit their existing status.

She said many bereaved families often encountered problems in the execution of accrued benefits of deceased contributors due to failure to regularly update their records with the SSNIT and to nominate the actual beneficiaries of such benefits.

Mrs Kwei said this during a day’s workshop jointly organized by (GTUC ) and the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to educate  journalists on the Three-Tier Pension Scheme at Abesim in the Sunyani Municipality.

She said for instance some contributors joined the scheme before their marriage and used their siblings and parents as successors adding that such contributors needed to update their records for the necessary changes to be made after their marriage and nominate the right beneficiaries to avoid problems in future.

She said the new three -tier pension scheme was mandatory for all employees in both the public and private sectors of the economy but optional for the self-employed.

Mrs Kwei said the minimum age for contributors was 15 years and maximum age was 45 years and the contributing rate was 13.5 per cent of contributor’s monthly salary out of which 2.5 per cent was levied for health care under the National Health Insurance Scheme leaving11 per cent for pension scheme.

She said the third tier applies to individuals in the informal sector who were not covered by any pension scheme under the mandatory part of the three-tier pension scheme.

In addition, Mrs Kwei said, the third tier applied to individuals who want to make voluntary contributions to enhance their pension benefits outside the mandatory scheme and workers who are more than 15 years or more than the statutory retirement age could join the scheme.

She said a contributor who is self-employed in the informal sector and not covered under the mandatory scheme would have the contributions credited in agreed proportion to two separate individual sub-accounts namely personal savings account and retirement account.

Mrs Kwei said a contributor might withdraw part of the accrued benefit in the personal savings account but the proceeds of the retired account should only be paid on retirement as monthly or quarterly pensions.

She said contributors who attained the retirement age were entitled to the entire accrued benefits in lump sum.

Mrs Kwei urged the media to continue to play a key role in the management of pension schemes in the country by exposing mismanagement of the pension fund and monitor the activities of private companies to protect members of the scheme.

Source: GNA