Tier 1 pension contributors asked to update records
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), has asked contributors to the Tier One pension scheme that it runs to update their records to enable the Trust to furnish them with their statements of accounts.
It said, with effect from October 1 to December 31, 2019, the Trust will issue statements of account of contributors to them via e-mail or text messages in a move aimed at ensuring that members were made aware of their contributions held in their names under the pension scheme operated by SSNIT.
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The Trust further explained that another crucial rationale for the exercise is to enable members to know whether their employers are paying the exact deductions made on their salaries every month as well as the actual amounts that are transferred to the scheme on their behalf.
Interview
The Deputy Director-General in charge of Operations and Benefits at SSNIT, Mrs Laurette Otchere, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in Accra last Tuesday, that the Trust was moving away from the previous practice where statements were made on request.
In what was expected to be an annual exercise by SSNIT, Mrs Otchere said it was necessary for every member of the scheme to know his or her standing as far as his or her account was concerned and expressed the hope that the exercise would help achieve that objective.
She said it would also offer members the opportunity to update their records with the scheme to facilitate the release of their due when they retired or passed away while still in active service.
“There are many members who might have joined the scheme using addresses which they do not use any longer. We are offering them this opportunity to regularise their records to make them current,” she added.
She also noted that “there may be some employees who do not know whether their deductions are transferred to us by their employers every month or not and so this offers them the opportunity to also know and reconcile any anomalies with their employers on what they deduct and transfer to us every month”.
Mrs Otchere, therefore, entreated contributors to heed the call to make the exercise successful.
Public notice
The notice published in the dailies stated: “Management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) wishes to inform the general public that it will issue statements of account to members from October 1 to December 31, 2019.
“To ensure a successful exercise, members of the scheme should update their email addresses, mobile phone numbers and any other record with the trust by September 22, 2019. This will ensure that statements are sent to the right persons and the right addresses.”
The notice further indicated that “SSNIT would not be responsible for sending statements of account to an inaccurate or shared e-mail address provided to SSNIT by a member.