Good News For Retired Employees: EPFO Extends Deadline To Apply For Higher Pension; Check Details Here

The EPFO had in February introduced this new process to help subscribers to apply for higher pensions under the EPS as per the Supreme Court’s November 4, 2022 order.

EPF Latest Update: The retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has extended the deadline to apply for a higher pension from the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) to June 26, 2023. Earlier the last date to apply for a higher pension was May 3, 2023.

It is to be noted that this is the second time that EPFO has extended the deadline to apply for a higher pension from EPS. Earlier, the Supreme Court had a four months deadline from the day of judgement (November 4, 2022) which was March 3, 2023.

The timeline is being extended to facilitate and provide ample opportunity to the pensioners/members so as to ease out any difficulty being faced by them. This has been decided after sympathetically considering the various demands received from employees, employers, and their associations, Labour Ministry said in a statement.

People eligible for higher pensions now

The EPFO had in February introduced this new process to help subscribers to apply for higher pensions under the EPS as per the Supreme Court’s November 4, 2022 order.

• Employees who were members before 1 September 2014, and continued to be a member on or after that date
• Employees and employers who had contributed on salary exceeding the standard wage ceiling of Rs. 5,000 or Rs.6,500.

How to apply for a higher pension

1. All eligible employees will have to submit an application in the prescribed form on the EPFO portal along with the necessary documents as mentioned above in the copy.
2. The link can be accessed at the UAN Member e-SEWA portal (https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/).
3. The application will be verified by the employer post-submission by the EPFO officer.
4. If all details are correct, then dues will be calculated and an order will be passed for transferring the dues.
5. In case of a mismatch, the same will be communicated to the employer and employee by EPFO and they will be given a time of one month to complete the information.

An acknowledgement number will be generated after the submission of the application form.

In March 2022, the EPFO had lowered the interest on EPF for 2021-22 to an over four-decade low of 8.1 per cent for its about five crore subscribers, from 8.5 per cent in 2020-21. This was the lowest since 1977-78, when the EPF interest rate stood at 8 per cent.

In March 2020, EPFO had lowered the interest rate on provident fund deposits to a seven-year low of 8.5 per cent for 2019-20, from 8.65 per cent provided for 2018-19.