EPF claims: Provident fund body rejigs multi-location claim settlement arrangement; details here

To facilitate multi-location claim settlement within the prescribed time limits, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has come up with an arrangement wherein 19 regional offices are linked to 36 collaborating regional offices.

The EPFO stated in a circular dated May 8, 2024 that the periodicity in offices across the country was discussed and deliberated in the zonal review conference chaired by the CPFC (Central Provident Fund Commissioner).

It is worth mentioning here that a number of EPF subscribers have been enquiring on ‘X’ about the timeline of crediting of interest for FY 2022-23.

In response, the pension fund body tends to give a standard reply: “Dear member, The process is in pipeline and may be shown there very shortly."

ALSO READ | When will EPF members receive interest for FY 2023-24 in their accounts? Here's EPFO's response

The multi-location claim settlement was launched in June 2020 to facilitate claim settlement online from any of the regional offices. Earlier the pension body followed a system of geographical jurisdiction where claims raised in one jurisdiction could be settled by the corresponding regional office only.

The circular highlights that these changes have been made to facilitate claim settlement within the prescribed time limits.

(Source: EPFO)

"The effective functioning of the link arrangement between Delegating Regional Office (DRO) — Collaborating Regional Office (CRO) shall be the responsibility of the RPFCs in-charge of both these offices, who are expected to work in close co-ordination to ensure that the desired results in the claim settlement periodicity is achieved without any issues," the circular reads.

ALSO READ | EPF rule change: Now you can claim partial withdrawal up to ₹1 lakh for medical treatment

The circular further mentions that it will be the responsibility of the DRO to ensure that the establishments mapped with the CRO have clean member and establishment data without any legacy issue, for instance, pending reconciliation or cases of short balances etc so as to avoid any erroneous payments.