EPS higher pension deadline next week: EPFO members say they can't submit applications on portal

Ahead of the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) higher pension deadline next week, many interested employees and pensioners said that they are unable to submit their application forms on the portal. 

Applicants and employers both have reported that they are facing multiple technical snags in submitting the application through the unified Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) portal. 

In November 2022, the Supreme Court allowed employees who were part of the EPFO before or on September 1, 2014, but could not apply for a higher pension, to submit fresh options within four months. The EPFO has set the deadline as June 26, 2023. The EPFO has already extended the deadline twice. The first extension was from March 3, 2023, to May 3, 2023. The second extension moved the deadline to June 26, 2023.

Taking to Twitter, EPFO members complained about mismatch in data to the complicated application process. 

 

 

Besides, employees have also raised concerns over the inability of the Universal Account Number (UAN) to fetch their complete service record for being considered for a higher pension still persists. Employees have raised their grievances with the EPFO and are not getting any response, a report in The Times of India said. 

Many employees and employers have also flagged the confusion on various issues surrounding the process like calculation and payment, resolving discrepancies between wage records maintained at the EPFO level and at the employer level. 

Business Today has also reported that many people are still unsure about applying for the higher EPS option. Even experts have flagged many unanswered clauses and are hoping for another deadline extension due to these confusions among applicants. 

Speaking to BT, Kriti Kaushik, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co., said: “While the EPFO has issued multiple circulars over the course of time to provide clarity on the application process for availing the higher pension option, there are still several aspects that remain unanswered. The timing of these circulars has mostly been at the eleventh hour which has led to a lot of uncertainty amongst the pensioners and employers in terms of implementation. Even though the EPFO has clarified that the additional contribution of 1.16 per cent would come from the employer’s share, there is still no clarity on sourcing of these contributions where the employer has already wound-up business.”  

“Further, there are also cases where the relevant data is either not available with the last employer or is not traceable due to the business having transferred or merged with other entities. Given these issues, one can reasonably expect a possible extension in the timeline of June 26, 2023,” Kaushik added. 

Vaibhav Bhardwaj, Partner, INDUSLAW, told BT: “There appears to be a prevalent ambiguity regarding the additional 1.16 per cent pension contribution that is required to be made. Of course, while the original amendment to the EPS Scheme had imposed this requirement of paying additional contributions on the pensioners, the Government later required the employers via a notification dated May 3. However, it remains to be seen as to whether this additional contribution requirement of 1.16 per cent would result in an increase in the overall contribution percentage required by an employer, as the EPFO has issued no clarification in this regard."   

Also read: What to do if EPFO has not yet processed the claim for payment of a higher pension?

Also read: Higher pension: EPFO issues a circular on list of documents you can submit to claim higher EPS