The General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) has concluded the ‘Your Commitment Protects You’ inspection campaign held during the first quarter of 2023 with the aim of raising awareness on practices and procedures related to the registration and contribution of insured Emiratis in the GPSSA's schemes.
On this occasion, the Authority emphasised the obligatory roles of all parties concerned – the GPSSA, insured employees and their entities or employers.
The UAE’s Pension Authority emphasised that pension and social security is an acquired right for insured individuals and their dependents. The Authority noted that none of the parties concerned has the right to violate any of the UAE’s pension laws rules and provisions.
It is an entity’s responsibility to ensure that eligible Emirati employees are registered with the GPSSA in a prompt and timely manner under GPSSA’s insurance protection scheme, which applies to all federal and government sector entities working in the UAE, except those working in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, in addition to Emiratis employed in the private sector, except those working in Abu Dhabi.
It is GPSSA’s responsibility to disburse insurance benefits such as pension, end-of-service benefits and compensations to those covered under the law by the end of their service. The disbursement of those benefits corresponds to a monthly contribution deducted from the employee and the entity in which he/she works at the rate of 20 percent, out of which the insured individual employed in the government and private sectors pays five percent, the employer in the government sector bears 15 percent, while the employer in the private sector pays 15 per cent, out of which the government contributes 2.5 percent in support of private sector employees.
Registering insured Emirati employees is mandatory his or her entity/employer, given that the conditions for participation are met, which includes the employee carrying the UAE nationality, is aged 18 to 60 and is medically fit upon appointment to work in accordance with an official medical report.
Entities/employers must register employees who are subject to the provisions of the pension law with the GPSSA within a maximum of one month from the date of them joining the service, and the employer must provide a statement with the names of the employees whose service has ended within a month at most from the date of their end of service.
In conformity with the UAE labour law, contributions must be paid from the beginning of the month and may be extended until the 15th day of that month. The private sector entity is mandated to submit employee salary details to the GPSSA in January of each year, as well as provide the Authority with any changes in the number of employees or their salary on monthly basis.
Insured Emiratis must be familiar with the registration and contribution requirements as part of the social insurance provision, since this will contribute to improving the benefits and decision-making process for the insured.
GPSSA’s inspection team aims to ensure the integrity of all procedures and practices such as the registration process and payment of contributions based on real wages of employees to whom the law applies to. During random inspection visits, inspectors have the right to verify an employee’s legal employment period, proof of official working hours of that employee, as well as to go through files, records and documents such as payroll accounts that showcase monthly payments of contributions within the legal period, as well as the right to hear employee complaints.
GPSSA affirmed the necessity of entities/employers to avoid practices that lead to fines and violations, some of which includes intentionally submitting incorrect data to either the GPSSA or to the inspection officer with the aim of not fulfilling due payments in full; deliberately refraining from sharing information with the intention of obtaining funds unjustly; contributing on behalf of some employees and not all of them; charging employees a share in the insurance expense that is not stipulated in the law; failure to register the insured; payment of contributions on behalf of an insured based on unreal wages, and the delay in payment of contributions for the insured within the granted period of time as stipulated in the law.
According to statistics published by the end of January 2023, the number of entities registered with the GPSSA reached 10,129 and the number of contributors increased to 97,941.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
