GPSSA Encourages Merging Previous Service Periods for Enhanced Retirement Benefits

General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) said that merging previous service periods is a pivotal step to enhance an insured individual’s chances of obtaining a better retirement pension scheme since it results in a continuation and extension of employment years up until the insured completes the remaining years eligible for a pension.

As part of the “End it Right” campaign’s quest to ensure insured individuals receive the highest retirement pension possible, while securing their post-retirement future expenditures, individuals who are estimated to work for 20 years or more are prone to receiving higher benefits, regardless of whether those employment years were merged or continuous.

The UAE Pension Law allows the insured to add the previous service years to the subsequent service years as long as the required controls and provisions are met. Merging services is optional; however, it is advisable since it allows the insured to add any number of years they wish more than once.

Additional costs are calculated by multiplying the contribution account salary on the date the additional service has been submitted multiplied by 20%, which is the percentage of contributions due from the insured and the employer, multiplied by the period to be added in months.

GPSSA’s Board of Directors facilitated the merge process when they gave the insured the option to pay an additional cost, which does not require paying a down payment but rather paying in instalments over four years so that the monthly instalments are not less than a quarter of the salary as per the UAE Pension Law.

When requesting to add a new service period, insured individuals must ensure their initial request has been settled based on calculating the additional periods corresponding to the amounts already paid and that the additional period is calculated on the contribution calculation salary on the date of submitting the new request.

The insured can pay the costs of merging the service in one lump sum or monthly instalments and risk having their request cancelled if the cost of adding the service as per the scheduled instalments, while paying two consecutive instalments is not done on time.

The service period merged is calculated according to the amounts paid or, if the insured wishes, for the remainder of the employment duration, given that a new application is submitted. If the insured’s service ends without paying the full cost of the merge, the additional service period is calculated based on the amounts paid.

An insured’s obligation to continue paying the instalments is dropped if they are deceased, provided that 50% of the total cost has been paid. If the value paid is less than 50%, the rest of the percentage will be deducted from the individual’s pension.

The insured individual must submit a written request to their entity before the end of the service period. Additionally, to receive a pension and/or end-of-service, the combined employment years must not have expired for any reason, nor will they be approved for temporary, freelance, daily-waged jobs or training.

News Source: Emirates News Agency