Kathmandu, December 1

The government is preparing to extend the deadline for firms to register their details and that of their employees at the Social Security Fund (SSF) for the second time as a large chunk of firms are yet to register themselves at the fund.

Kapil Mani Gyawali, executive director at SSF, informed that internal discussions are underway to extend the deadline once again as a majority of firms in the country have not submitted their details to the fund.

Initially, the government had provided a deadline of October 17 for firms to register themselves and all of their employees at the SSF. But, owing to lukewarm response, the government had extended the deadline for registration by three months to November-end.

“We don’t have any option other than to extend the deadline for firms to register at the SSF as we plan to implement the scheme at any cost. Along with extending the deadline, we will also try to find out the reasons behind why the private sector is reluctant to be a part of the scheme, sort out their issues and encourage them gradually,” said Gyawali.

However, he informed that SSF has been taking registration of firms despite the completion of the deadline. “We will soon officially extend the deadline,” he added.

As per SSF statistics, 10,477 employers and 115,606 contributors have been affiliated with the fund so far. Moreover, the SSF has collected Rs 181 million contributions to the fund. Among others, banks and financial institutions have been lingering to register at SSF citing that some policies in the SSF are biased. Similarly, big corporate houses have been questioning the different provisions under the scheme.

However, the SSF has a target to collect Rs 40 billion contribution in the fund and ensure participation of all sectors in the scheme.

Interestingly, though the government had initially said that it would take action against those not participating in the scheme it has remained silent of late.

Under the contribution-based Social Security Scheme, private sector employees will have to contribute 11 per cent of their basic salary to the fund, while employers or firms will have to contribute another 20 per cent of the employees’ basic salary to the fund.

According to the scheme, of the total fund collected, SSF will allocate 3.22 per cent for medical treatment, health and maternity security and 4.52 per cent for accident and disability security. It will allot 0.87 per cent for dependent family security and 91.39 per cent for old age security.