Tema, July 15, GNA – The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has held a day’s stakeholder engagement with leadership and members of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the Greater Accra Region on pension-related issues.

The engagement was attended by members of the TUC from its district councils in Tema, Ada, Amasaman, Shai-Osudoku, and Accra Metro.

Mr Joseph Poku, SSNIT Chief Actuary in a presentation on “Understanding the value proposition of the SSNIT Scheme” said SSNIT was the administrator of the basic social security popularly known as the Tier One pension.

Mr. Poku added that persons aged 15 to 45 years were qualified to enrol on the scheme either as a formal or informal worker.

He disclosed that currently, the scheme had 1.7 million active contributors out of the five million registered, explaining that active contributors were those who contributed regularly.

He said out of the active number of contributors, those in the private sector accounted for 1,130,069 representing 63 percent, while the public sector had 649,072 representing 36 percent while only one percent (17,006) of the contributors were self-employed.

He indicated that the Trust was rolling out a series of activities and measures to get more people enrolled onto the scheme especially the self-employed adding that statistics from the Ghana Statistical Service indicated that 11.5 million people were eligible to be enrolled on compared to those currently on it.

Touching on the benefits the scheme offers, he said it paid old age pension, survival lump sum, invalidity pension, and emigration lump sum.

Mr Poku explained that contributing for a minimum of 180 months or 15 years gave the contributor an entitlement of 37.5 per cent pension benefit adding that the scheme ensures that when you meet the requirement, it paid the contributor monthly till their demise irrespective of the number of years they would live.

He said statistics from the scheme showed that more people were living longer than it used to be, meaning SSNIT was paying more in benefits to pensioners.

On the invalidity pension, he explained that it was the benefit paid to contributors who might have contributed continuously for a minimum of year before being declared by a medical doctor and approved by a committee that they could no longer work due to invalidity.

He said with that, the beneficiary would be entitled to a monthly benefit just like he or she was on pension till their death.

He disclosed that currently SSNIT has 1,536 people on the invalidity pension and had so far paid about 18.4 million cedis in benefits to them.

Mr. Poku further disclosed that the youngest person on the invalidity pension was 31 years old and started benefitting from age 29 while the oldest was 83 years and was put on it at the age of 53.

He urged union leaders to consider asking for the consolidation of basic salaries with allowances to ensure that workers’ contributions were appreciated for a good pension package when they retire from active service.

Mr Joshua Ansah, Deputy Secretary-General of the TUC, said the suggestion on the need to consolidate basic salaries with allowances was welcome and gave the assurance that the TUC would look at that adding that it that was not possible then there was the need to have good basic salaries to cushion workers.

Mr Ansah urged workers to prioritise their pension the moment they were employed, stressing that workers must learn from what happened to some of their predecessors.

Mr. Patrick Tetteh Binyemi, Greater Accra Regional Council of Labour, TUC underscored the importance of extending the compulsory retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

Mr. Binyemi explained that there was an urgent need to consider reviewing the pension age to enable workers to contribute more and enjoy enhanced pensions upon retirement.

“We must also negotiate with our employers to ensure that a chunk of our earnings goes into payment of SSNIT contribution to enable our members to earn a meaningful pension,” he added.

GNA

Tema, July 15, GNA – The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has held a day’s stakeholder engagement with leadership and members of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the Greater Accra Region on pension-related issues.

The engagement was attended by members of the TUC from its district councils in Tema, Ada, Amasaman, Shai-Osudoku, and Accra Metro.

Mr Joseph Poku, SSNIT Chief Actuary in a presentation on “Understanding the value proposition of the SSNIT Scheme” said SSNIT was the administrator of the basic social security popularly known as the Tier One pension.

Mr. Poku added that persons aged 15 to 45 years were qualified to enrol on the scheme either as a formal or informal worker.

He disclosed that currently, the scheme had 1.7 million active contributors out of the five million registered, explaining that active contributors were those who contributed regularly.

He said out of the active number of contributors, those in the private sector accounted for 1,130,069 representing 63 percent, while the public sector had 649,072 representing 36 percent while only one percent (17,006) of the contributors were self-employed.

He indicated that the Trust was rolling out a series of activities and measures to get more people enrolled onto the scheme especially the self-employed adding that statistics from the Ghana Statistical Service indicated that 11.5 million people were eligible to be enrolled on compared to those currently on it.

Touching on the benefits the scheme offers, he said it paid old age pension, survival lump sum, invalidity pension, and emigration lump sum.

Mr Poku explained that contributing for a minimum of 180 months or 15 years gave the contributor an entitlement of 37.5 per cent pension benefit adding that the scheme ensures that when you meet the requirement, it paid the contributor monthly till their demise irrespective of the number of years they would live.

He said statistics from the scheme showed that more people were living longer than it used to be, meaning SSNIT was paying more in benefits to pensioners.

On the invalidity pension, he explained that it was the benefit paid to contributors who might have contributed continuously for a minimum of year before being declared by a medical doctor and approved by a committee that they could no longer work due to invalidity.

He said with that, the beneficiary would be entitled to a monthly benefit just like he or she was on pension till their death.

He disclosed that currently SSNIT has 1,536 people on the invalidity pension and had so far paid about 18.4 million cedis in benefits to them.

Mr. Poku further disclosed that the youngest person on the invalidity pension was 31 years old and started benefitting from age 29 while the oldest was 83 years and was put on it at the age of 53.

He urged union leaders to consider asking for the consolidation of basic salaries with allowances to ensure that workers’ contributions were appreciated for a good pension package when they retire from active service.

Mr Joshua Ansah, Deputy Secretary-General of the TUC, said the suggestion on the need to consolidate basic salaries with allowances was welcome and gave the assurance that the TUC would look at that adding that it that was not possible then there was the need to have good basic salaries to cushion workers.

Mr Ansah urged workers to prioritise their pension the moment they were employed, stressing that workers must learn from what happened to some of their predecessors.

Mr. Patrick Tetteh Binyemi, Greater Accra Regional Council of Labour, TUC underscored the importance of extending the compulsory retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

Mr. Binyemi explained that there was an urgent need to consider reviewing the pension age to enable workers to contribute more and enjoy enhanced pensions upon retirement.

“We must also negotiate with our employers to ensure that a chunk of our earnings goes into payment of SSNIT contribution to enable our members to earn a meaningful pension,” he added.

GNA

Tema, July 15, GNA – The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has held a day’s stakeholder engagement with leadership and members of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the Greater Accra Region on pension-related issues.

The engagement was attended by members of the TUC from its district councils in Tema, Ada, Amasaman, Shai-Osudoku, and Accra Metro.

Mr Joseph Poku, SSNIT Chief Actuary in a presentation on “Understanding the value proposition of the SSNIT Scheme” said SSNIT was the administrator of the basic social security popularly known as the Tier One pension.

Mr. Poku added that persons aged 15 to 45 years were qualified to enrol on the scheme either as a formal or informal worker.

He disclosed that currently, the scheme had 1.7 million active contributors out of the five million registered, explaining that active contributors were those who contributed regularly.

He said out of the active number of contributors, those in the private sector accounted for 1,130,069 representing 63 percent, while the public sector had 649,072 representing 36 percent while only one percent (17,006) of the contributors were self-employed.

He indicated that the Trust was rolling out a series of activities and measures to get more people enrolled onto the scheme especially the self-employed adding that statistics from the Ghana Statistical Service indicated that 11.5 million people were eligible to be enrolled on compared to those currently on it.

Touching on the benefits the scheme offers, he said it paid old age pension, survival lump sum, invalidity pension, and emigration lump sum.

Mr Poku explained that contributing for a minimum of 180 months or 15 years gave the contributor an entitlement of 37.5 per cent pension benefit adding that the scheme ensures that when you meet the requirement, it paid the contributor monthly till their demise irrespective of the number of years they would live.

He said statistics from the scheme showed that more people were living longer than it used to be, meaning SSNIT was paying more in benefits to pensioners.

On the invalidity pension, he explained that it was the benefit paid to contributors who might have contributed continuously for a minimum of year before being declared by a medical doctor and approved by a committee that they could no longer work due to invalidity.

He said with that, the beneficiary would be entitled to a monthly benefit just like he or she was on pension till their death.

He disclosed that currently SSNIT has 1,536 people on the invalidity pension and had so far paid about 18.4 million cedis in benefits to them.

Mr. Poku further disclosed that the youngest person on the invalidity pension was 31 years old and started benefitting from age 29 while the oldest was 83 years and was put on it at the age of 53.

He urged union leaders to consider asking for the consolidation of basic salaries with allowances to ensure that workers’ contributions were appreciated for a good pension package when they retire from active service.

Mr Joshua Ansah, Deputy Secretary-General of the TUC, said the suggestion on the need to consolidate basic salaries with allowances was welcome and gave the assurance that the TUC would look at that adding that it that was not possible then there was the need to have good basic salaries to cushion workers.

Mr Ansah urged workers to prioritise their pension the moment they were employed, stressing that workers must learn from what happened to some of their predecessors.

Mr. Patrick Tetteh Binyemi, Greater Accra Regional Council of Labour, TUC underscored the importance of extending the compulsory retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

Mr. Binyemi explained that there was an urgent need to consider reviewing the pension age to enable workers to contribute more and enjoy enhanced pensions upon retirement.

“We must also negotiate with our employers to ensure that a chunk of our earnings goes into payment of SSNIT contribution to enable our members to earn a meaningful pension,” he added.

GNA