Re-registration of members of Employees’ Provident Fund as per ‘National Identity Card Number’
The legal framework for the Fund was established by the Employees’ Provident Fund Act No. 15 of 1958 and the operations of the Fund commenced on June 1 1958. Accordingly, EPF has been strengthened as the largest superannuation fund operating in Sri Lanka over the time span of around 65 years.
In accordance with the provisions of the EPF Act No. 15 of 1958, the Department of Labour (DoL), as the administrator of the EPF and the EPF Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) as the fund manager of the EPF have jointly launched the re-registration project to re-register members of the Fund according to the National Identity Card (NIC) number.
The project commenced in the year 2008 with the aim of establishing and maintaining a member data base primarily centered on the NIC number of EPF members.The re-registration project has been launched in two phases and Phase I has been operational since 2008. Under Phase II of the project, the EPF Department of the CBSL has introduced an innovative face with the acquisition of access rights to the data base of the Department for Registration of Persons (DRP) under a memorandum of understanding with the DRP in 2021. Accordingly, EPF Department has taken many steps to upgrade the project while ensuring smooth operations of the same from its inception till now.
Objectives and benefits of the re- registration project
This project has initiated with the prime objective of establishing a common member database that can be used by both the EPF Department and the DoL using a Unique Identification Member Number (UIMN), i.e. NIC number of a member. Accordingly, one of the main objectives of this project is to convert currently operating ‘Employer Centric’ data base (i.e. maintain data base according to the EPF member number) into a ‘Member Centric’ data base (i.e. maintain data base according to the NIC number of a member). Under this project, the aforesaid data base will maintain under a separate new data base named as ‘New Member Registry (NMR)’and following benefits can also be achieved by the re-registration project.
*Ability to establish and maintain more accurate database for both EPF Department and DoL.
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| K.A.Thamara N Senarathna |
* Ability to create a New Member Registry (NMR) to link the members’ previous employment related member accounts to their UIMN. In other words, the ability to link all member accounts owned by a member to the member’s NIC number.
* Under the role of fund management task assigned to the EPF Department, the ability to carry out ‘Age Analysis’ on the retirement age of members concerned to accurately manage/predict liquidity necessities required for investment activities and repayment of benefits.
*Ability to provide highly efficient services to members due to the minimum amount of information required to verify members’ employment details as their employment details being stored in the data base centered on the NIC number.
*Ability to facilitate digitalisation processes of EPF services provide to members easily through internet, mobile applications, short message services or other online methods with the existence of NIC number stored in the data base.
* Ability to overcome many difficulties faced by members/employers as well as officials of both EPF Department and DoL by being able to minimize amendments of member names and NIC numbers which are currently prevalent.
*Ability to ease the mechanism implemented by the EPF Department in 2022,to verify the authenticity of the statements issued by the EPF Department, upon receipt of the request made by foreign embassies/high commissions in relation to the submission of EPF related statements by various persons to such foreign embassies/high commissions for the purpose of obtaining visas. That is, as soon as the NIC number of the respective individual is entered into the computer data base used by the EPF Department, their full name and other member details can be traced according to the NIC number. Thus, facilitatethe verification processes of member credentials more easily and efficiently.
* Eliminate the requirement of submitting completed form named ‘RR-6’ to Re-registration Division of the EPF Department by the employers for re-registering their employees in the Fund, containing the details of their NIC.This will reduce the unnecessary usage of paper as well as eliminate inconveniences faced by the employers and the officials of EPF Department.
Performance of Phase I of the project
The EPF Department established a separate re-registration unit within the Department in 2008 to implement and maintain the member re-registration project. Accordingly, under Phase I of the project, the process of re-registration of the members of the EPF will be carried out according to their NIC number, following a method consisting of several steps as follows.
Data collection
All employers must submit the Form ‘RR-6’ providing details as per the information mentioned in the NICs of the employees working in their establishment along with the certified copies of the NICs of the concerned employees to the Re-registration Division of the EPF Department. The Re-Registration Division has arranged to send the Form ‘RR-6’ to all the active employers and employers are able to download the Form ‘RR-6’ by visiting the official website of the EPF Department viawww.epf.lk.
Data entry
Verification of membership data in Form ‘RR-6’ is done by external service providers approved by the Procurement Committee of the EPF Department or by the internal staff of the Department. The data thus entered will be transferred to the computer data system used by the EPF Department by the IT Division affiliated to the EPF Department.
Data verification
The data that entered into the computer system of the EPF Department is checked against the information submitted by the employers through Forms ‘RR-6’. After ensuring the accuracy of the information provided by the employers, the data verification will be done.
Data amendments
If there is any discrepancy between the data entered in the Form ‘RR-6’ and the data entered in the computerized data system of the EPF Department, the amendment forms (RR-AMD) will be sent to the respective employers. Accordingly, the relevant amendments will be made after confirming the accuracy of the information provided by the employers to the re-registration Division of the EPF Department through the amendment forms. Revisions are made to the re-registered data base due to the changes in the information included in the members NIC, i.e. changes of the name mentioned in the members’ birth certificate or the members use a new NIC with 12 digits instead of the 10-digit NIC. If there is a change in the name, a certified copy of the birth certificate certifying the name change as mentioned in the thirteenth (13) column of the birth certificate and a certified copy of the new NIC in the case of obtaining a new NIC containing 12 digits are required to be submitted to make name/NIC amendments where applicable. After receipt of all requested documents, those documents will be properly checked and finally the relevant amendments will be made.
See Table 01
Drawbacks in the current re-registration process
Although the current re-registration process offers several benefits to members and employers, the following shortcomings have also been identified in the phase I of the project.
* Inactive members cannot be re-registered as each member’s signature is required when completing the Form ‘RR-6’.
*Employers are required to send Form ‘RR-6’ to the EPF Department and accordingly, unable to re-register members of currently inactive companies.
* Lack of awareness among employers on the necessity of consistent submission of completed Form ‘RR-6’’ even after new employees have recruited into their companies, hampering the ongoing operation of the project.
*Although the Re-registration Division of the EPF Department continuously informs the employers on the requirement of submitting acompany-certified copy of NIC for re-registration of employees, some employers submit certified copies of the employees’ driving license or passport as proof of identity. Impairment of the re-registration process due to non-acceptance of the driving license or passport sent by the employers as a valid proof of identity.
A brief introduction to Phase II of the project
Under Phase II of the project, with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the EPF Department and the DRP on July 1 2021, access was provided to the data base of the DRP (facility for checking the scanned copies of NICs of persons).
Phase II of the re-registration project of the members of the EPF, according to their NIC is expected to be carried out by following a number of steps mainly under the below mentioned three categories. That is, according to the NIC of the members of the fund:
* Re-registration of active member information
* Re-registration of inactive member information
* Registration of new members
Phase II of the project is scheduled to be implemented with the aim of eliminating the weaknesses identified in Phase I of the project. Also, it is expected to implement the project more efficiently while ensuring maximum accuracy of the member data base. Accordingly, it is proposed to launch Phase II in the second half of 2023 after satisfying all prerequisites required for the commencement of the same.
Reference:
Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Department of Labour (2005) Handbook of Employees’ Provident Fund, Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Department of Labour
Central Bank of Sri Lanka (2022) Annual Report Official Website of the Employees’ Provident Fund: www.epf.lk
About the author
K.A.Thamara N Senarathna, Deputy Superintendent, Employees’ Provident Fund Department, Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any institution.