In a bid to ease the pension disbursement process for Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) members, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recently rolled out the Centralised Pension Payment System (CPPS).
The CPPS is a paradigm shift from the existing pension disbursement system that is decentralized, with each zonal, regional office of the EPFO maintaining separate agreements with only 3-4 banks.
The retirement fund body has enabled all Regional Offices (ROs) to process pension claims through any branch of any scheduled commercial bank across India, regardless of geographical jurisdiction or existing pension disbursement agreements. The initiative is aimed at streamlining pension disbursements by the EPFO. In this write-up, we will discuss how this CPPS initiative will have a significant impact on EPS pensioners after the CPPS facility roll-out.
Also read: EPFO: Fund withdrawal, profile update, account transfer rules change! New guidelines you can’t afford to miss
Centralised Pension Payment System key highlights:
EPFO’s ROs will now process pension claims with any bank account, eliminating the need for transferring Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) between offices based on branch location. The organisation instructed ROs to update new bank branches in the system, ensuring the inclusion of IFSC codes and other necessary data fields.
Pension claimants may use the same bank account linked to their Universal Account Number (UAN) for PF claims. This is intended to reduce errors and failures in payments due to incorrect bank details.
For claims processed under CPPS, PPOs will be sent directly to the pensioners, not to bank branches. Pensioners are required to submit an undertaking in a specified format within one month of receiving their PPO. For offline claims, such as death cases, the undertaking must accompany the claim itself.
Aadhaar details must be seeded into the system for all beneficiaries before pension disbursement. This will simplify future processes, such as the submission of the Digital Life Certificate (DLC).
In cases of PPO revisions, including those related to Permanent and Total Disablement Pension (POHW), the original issuing RO will retain responsibility for processing revisions and disbursements.
Effective January 1, 2025, ROs will not transfer PPOs to other offices. For claims erroneously transferred after this date, the receiving office must return the claims to the original RO for processing.
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