The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) relaxed some of its regulations to make life easier for members. The changes include an extended facility of auto-settlement, multi-location claim settlement, and faster death claims.
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Auto-settlement facility
All claims up to ₹1 lakh for treating medical conditions of either the member or their family members will now be auto-processed without any human intervention under rule 68J, according to a circular dated April 16, 2024.
Withdrawal from EPF funds for marriage of the self, daughter, son, brother, or sister, or higher education of children is now permitted under Rule 68K.
Faster EPF claim settlement
A link office setup for multi-location settlement claim is being made to minimize delays by evenly dispersing the burden linked to claim settlement across the country, the EPFO said in a recent circular
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New rule for EPF death claim
In all cases of death, processing physical claims without seeding Aadhaar may be permitted as a temporary measure, but only with the proper approval of the OIC.
This move came as family members were unable to seed and authenticate Aadhaar in cases of the death of EPF members, leading to delays in the disbursement of payments, a circular issued on May 17, 2024 read.
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No more mandatory uploading of cheque leaf image
The EPFO has relaxed the requirement of mandatory uploading of the image of cheque leaf, and attested bank passbook for certain eligible cases.
This is to facilitate the settlement of online claims more quickly and lower the amount of rejected claims resulting from the failure to submit an image of the certified bank passbook or cheque leaf at the time of online claim filing.
