EPFO made these four major changes to the EPF account, claims process

The EPFO has decided to end the COVID-19 advance withdrawal facility immediately, now that the epidemic has passed and life are returning to normal.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a non-refundable advance was provided to the EPF members during the outbreak of first wave of Covid-19 and another advance was also allowed in view of second wave with effect from May 31, 2021.

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In a press release dated May 13, 2024, the auto-settlement facility for housing under Rule 68B and education and marriage under Rule 68K was announced.

A circular dated April 16, 2024 increased the amount under Rule 68J for receiving an advance for a medical condition. April 2020 saw the introduction of the facility. Now all claims up to Rs 1 lakh under these heads will be auto-processed without any human intervention.

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To expedite claim settlement within the timeframes specified. A link office setup for multi-location claim settlement is being made, the EPFO said in a recent circular. It will minimize delays by evenly dispersing the burden linked to claim settlement across the country.

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It has been decided that going forward, in all such death cases, processing physical claims without seeding Aadhaar may be permitted as a temporary measure, but only with the proper approval of the OIC in an e-office file duly recording the details of verification done to confirm the deceased’s membership and the genuineness of the claimants. Preventing any fraudulent withdrawals can be done in addition to other due diligence measures that measures that the OIC deems appropriate.

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The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPF) has relaxed the requirement of mandatory uploading of the image of cheque leaf, attested bank passbook for certain eligible cases.

This would 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.

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