Under the new reforms, EPFO has eliminated the requirement of uploading photo of cheque or verified bank passbook while filing online claims, which will benefit over 7.7 crore members.
PF Claim Rules Change: Central government on Thursday announced two new reforms to ease the claim settlement process in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). This will help in removing complaints of claim rejection. Under the new reforms, EPFO has eliminated the need to upload a photo of a check or verified bank passbook while filing an online claim, which will benefit more than 7.7 crore members.
This decision was taken after the success of the pilot project
According to the government, this requirement was initially introduced on a pilot basis for some KYC-updating members. Since its launch on May 28, 2024, 1.7 crore EPFO members have benefited from it so far. The Union Ministry of Labor and Employment said that after the success of the pilot project, this facility has now been implemented for all members.
The government made these 2 changes
The government said that when a member links a bank account with the Universal Account Number (UAN), the name of the account holder is already verified with the EPFO details, so this additional documentation is no longer necessary. Apart from this, to simplify the process of linking bank accounts with UAN, EPFO has also removed the requirement of employer approval after bank verification.
These are the current rules
At present, every member is required to link his bank account with UAN so that his PF withdrawal can be easily credited to such an account. At present, out of 7.74 crore members contributing every month, 4.83 crore members have linked their bank accounts with UAN and 14.95 lakh approvals are pending at the employers’ level. The ministry said, “These reforms will also facilitate those members who want to change their previously linked bank account by entering their new bank account number with IFSC code through Aadhaar OTP.”
