Social Security Fund (SSF) aims to provide social security protection for maternity, sickness, employment injury, old age and retrenchment in accordance with internationally accepted principles. A medical scheme in addition cover payments for the treatment of medical conditions of the employees. The schemes will initially cover the formal sector and will be extended to the other sectors gradually. The vision of the government is to provide comprehensive social security coverage to the population and create a safe and secure work environment.
Employers should contribute 20 per cent and contributors 11 percent and a total of 31 percent monthly and regularly.
Dependent family means any living person living in the same family with the contributor and having the following relationship with the contributor.
According to Section 7 of the Contribution-Based Social Security Act, the amount must be deposited in the fund within fifteen days of the end of the month in which the contributable income has to be paid.
If the contribution is not deposited within the stipulated time as per Section 9 of the Contribution Based Social Security Act, the fund will collect ten percent interest on the amount to be deposited in the fund. The Contributor is even deprived from the facility of Disability and Dependent Family Protection Scheme in such cases
Pursuant to Article 47 of the Contribution Based Social Security Act, there is a provision to recover such amount from the contributor if he / she is found to have made false claim by submitting wrong details.
> The assessment done to ascertain the possibility to increase the facilities provided by the fund to the contributors considering the investment made by the organization, financial status, demographic structure of the contributors, claims payment and other liabilities is called actuarial assessment.
All the schemes are mandatory.
According to Article 21 of the Act, the employees in the government service will be as prescribed by the government. Currently, there is another pension program based on the contribution of government employees operated by the Employees Provident Fund unless other alternative provisions are made.
“Basic remuneration” means the basic remuneration to be received by a labour for employment, and this term also includes the amount of increment in remuneration after the completion of one year of the employment period.
According to Rule 66 of the Labour Regulations, at least 60 percent of the total wages will be basic wages.
According to Sections 52, 53, 54 and 55 of the Labour Act, a total of 20% (10 percent from the employee and 10 percent from the employer) provident fund should be deducted.
Also, an employer shall provide a gratuity of 8.33% of the basic salary, a minimum of Rs 1 lakh for medical treatment and Rs 7 lakh for accident insurance.
A labour audit is an audit to ascertain the status of compliance with labour laws, regulations or prevailing laws. In which the above-mentioned issues can be inspected and verified by the labour inspector at any time.
The minimum wage is the minimum wage determined by the committee under the Ministry of Labour to determine the minimum wage every 2/2 years. At present, such remuneration is Rs. 13450 (In the case of regular employees)
According to Article 178 (3) of the Labour Act, the current benefits are not decreased. In addition, Rule 23 (4) of the Labour Rules stipulates that if the amount taken by someone at the time of commencement of the rules is more than one month, the amount to be deposited in the fund is to be deposited in the contribution-based social security fund.
It is mandatory to participate in the social security scheme. If not, you may be deprived from government facilities.
There is an arrangement to participate voluntarily.
In case of the death of the contributor less than 15 years after the commencement of retirement, 50% of the pension amount received by his / her spouse will be paid monthly while he/she is alive.
In the case of workers who have been employed on or after Shrawan 1, 2078, after contributing to the fund for 15 years, they are required to participate in the compulsory pension scheme and in case of not contributing for 15 years even after reaching 60 years of age, there is a provision to choose either pension or retirement facility scheme.
Since the pension received from the Social Security Fund is a contribution based pension, the person receiving the pension from elsewhere also gets the pension from the Social Security Fund.
There is a provision to get lump sum payment. But in order to get the money back, you have to get a permanent residence permit of a foreign country.
There is an arrangement to provide the facilities to the contributors in the following four schemes as per the security plan procedure 2075:
-Medicine, health and maternity protection plan,
-Accident and Disability Safety Plan,
-Dependent Family Protection Scheme,
-Old age protection plan.
Such a plan is implemented after contributing to the fund for at least three months.
Apart from 60 days of paid maternity leave from the employer, 60 percent of the basic wage is paid for maternity leave for an additional 38 days, and a minimum wage of one month per baby is provided for the care of a newborn baby. In addition, the contributor or contributor’s wife will be provided with regular pregnancy test, hospitalization, surgery, expenses related to delivery up to 6 weeks after delivery and treatment of the baby up to three months.
Contributors contributing to the Social Security Fund do not have to pay one per cent social security tax as per Section 21 (4) of the Financial Act.
As per sub-section (1) of the Income Tax Act 63, the amount deposited in the social security fund has been recognized as an approved pension, so there is no possibility of double taxation
> One can deposit the amount in Social Security Fund’s account from any bank or financial institution with Connect IPS from te employer’s account. Deposits can be made directly to the Social Security Fund account through Connect IPS of the bank having the employer’s account.
> One can go to SOSYS Online Registration on the Social Security Fund’s website www.ssf.gov.np and register for SSF after filling form.SSF will provide a certificate, social security number, username and password electronically. Then the details of employees can also be filled from the portal.
Different applications have been submitted for separate schemes for claiming the facility. The application can be downloaded as required from the Claim manual at the website: www.ssf.gov.np.
There is a provision of 3 types of collateral-based loans for housing, education and social work. But for the loan, you have to have contributed to the fund for three consecutive years.
Provision has been made to transfer the loan at the same interest rate if the contributor who has taken a loan from another retirement fund based on collateral joins SSF. The interest rate of the loan provided by the fund is less than the market rate.
> All the earnings (according to the actuarial assessment) is received by the contributor himself.
For this, please see the “sosys user manual” at the fund’s website: www.ssf.gov.np.
The certificate of registration of the employer is sent to the official email of the concerned organization after the details are received and can be downloaded from the employer portal.
There is an arrangement to print the identity card from the contributor list in the report within the sosys on the fund’s website and also to make it available from the fund.
To join the fund, go to the Social Security Fund’s website www.ssf.gov.np, go to SOSYS Online Registration and go to New Registration and fill in the details in the form.
When joining a new employer fund, details of the employer, details of the chief executive or chairman of the employer organization as well as documents registered in the PAN or VAT of the organization are required. If the employer is a foreigner, a letter certified by the embassy is also required.
Employers can be added to the fund in two ways: Filling KYC Form on the Contributor Manual or In case of numerous contributors, this can be done by filling out the Excel Sheet provided by the Fund.
> Only details of verified contributors can be seen which go to Reports> Employee list.
Click on Change Password and then Old Password> New Password.
> Go to Employer Portal and click on Recover Password. > Enter your SSID. > Then you will get a link or password to change the password in your email address.
> Click on Report and go to Collection. > Select contribution start date and end date.
They should.
All organizations have their own importance. The scope of work of the organizations is determined in accordance with the legal provisions to address the needs of the time. The Social Security Fund is an institution established to operate all types of social security schemes in the package.
As the Contribution-Based Social Security Act provides that any type of employed person can join the fund, those working in the informal sector and even the self-employed can join the fund for which a separate working method is being developed.
In case of leaving after contributing for some time, the amount deposited in the retirement fund can be withdrawn in case of separation from the job and the amount deposited in the pension fund must have reached 60 years to get a lump sum withdrawal or pension as per the rules.
31 percent of the amount paid by the contributor is distributed to the respective schemes and the portfolio of money is invested in different sectors according to the principle of diversification.
In fact, with the implementation of the Social Security Act is related to Labour Act 2074 and the fundamental rights of the constitution In the Labour Act 2074, there is a mandatory provision of 20 percent per month for the provident fund, 8.33 percent gratuity, medical treatment and accident insurance. Social Security Fund contribution of 31 is based accordingly.
There is an arrangement for the contributors to get the return from the investment of the old age condition protection scheme deposited in the fund proportionally.
If one has to go to the hospitals without MOU with SSF for treatment for business related accident, the fund must be informed within seven days of the accident. If the treatment is not done without informing, the fund will not cover more than seven lakh rupees no matter how much is spent. However, treatment related to medical treatment, health, and maternity protection should be done in the hospital where MOU is done.
The Social Security Fund was formally launched on Mangshir 11, 2075.
Contribution Based Social Security Act was issued on Shrawan 29, 2074.
Contribution Based Social Security Act came into force on 2nd Kartik, 2074 BS.
Article 34 of the Constitution provides for the right to social security based on contributions as a fundamental right.
The slogan of the fund is “Social Security and Employment is the basis of good Labour relations”.
The theoretical basis of social security fund operation is to guarantee the health and safety of the contributor workers while they are working and to give them a sense of dignified Labour and dignified life by guaranteeing continuity of income while they are not at work.
There is an arrangement for the Social Security Fund to have a secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.
The Social Security Fund Steering Committee has a tripartite arrangement in which a total of 13 members including the government, employers and workers’ representatives will be the moderators.
The facility schemes operated by the Fund are based on the international minimum standards of social security set by ILO Convention 102.