What is EPFO’s new system | Explained
The story so far: The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recently sent a message to all its subscribers that it is undertaking a “planned database
The story so far: The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recently sent a message to all its subscribers that it is undertaking a “planned database consolidation and upgradation of software applications”. It informed that as part of this transition, member services like claim submission, download passbook, etc., will remain temporarily unavailable from June 26 to July 1. As part of the Centralised IT-Enabled System (CITES) Project, the EPFO’s effort is to modernise its service delivery mechanism through automation and rule-based processing. Designed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, the project aims to improve EPFO’s operational efficiency. The organisation is hopeful that the revised mechanism will make the services more transparent, and subscribers will receive seamless services. Current services The EPFO is facing several technical and procedural delays in member services, such as the submission of claims for deceased members and the presentation of life certificates for pensioners. At present, the EPFO has a decentralised system with separate databases at each field and regional office.
The members are tied to one regional office. In many cases, even retired beneficiaries had to go to the regional offices where they had worked to submit claims or clear technical problems. Beneficiaries of deceased members also had to approach the respective regional offices for pension or other claims. The operations are primarily done by more than 120 decentralised databases at present, with no central visibility. There have been complaints that the account operations are “employer-centric” as for the majority of the claims, authorisation of the employer was necessary. EPFO and ESIC launch employees’ enrolment scheme to promote voluntary compliance, extend social security coverage Centralisation of services The CITES provides a single centralised system architecture with one national database. Now, any PF office can process a member’s service request. Members or beneficiaries will now be able to approach any PF office across the country for the redressal of their queries and for seeking clarifications. Most of the services, including KYC updates, can also be done online using the new platform.
The current Universal Account Number (UAN) and password created by the member can be used to access the new system. Functional from 2023, the CITES has so far implemented several reforms in the EPFO system, including a centralised pension payment system. Senior officials say that the centralisation process included the migration of several lakh crore data records to the centralised system. The process started on June 26 and is expected to be completed by June 30. The EPFO expects a downtime, due to which the services will be affected. On logging in to the EPFO Member portal using the UAN and password, the members will have access to a unified digital interface. Members can view their membership details, provident fund balances, claim status, pensionable service records, and benefits availed in this interface. EPFO offices can process the claims and can will raise queries electronically through the system. Members can respond to these queries online, leading to faster resolution, minimising physical visits to EPFO offices, and thus reducing claim rejections.
The BriefWire