By Emmanuel Gamson, GNA
Takoradi, Sept. 16, GNA – The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has engaged employers in the Western Region as part of strategies to deepen their relations, enhance compliance, and strengthen pensions security for Ghana’s workforce.
The engagement, dubbed: “Employers Breakfast Meeting,” held in Takoradi, was on the theme: “Employers as partners in delivering compliance to secure Ghana’s workforce.”
It provided a platform for SSNIT to sensitise participants on some of its policies and reforms aimed at improving compliance and protecting the welfare of contributors after retirement from active service.
Mr Adams Sulley, Deputy Director-General in charge of Operations and Benefits at SSNIT, during the event said the engagement formed part of broader strategies adopted by the Trust to strengthen compliance among employers, particularly those in the private sector.
He said: “We are trying as much as possible to move compliance away from enforcement and make it more of a service, so the more we engage employers as we are doing today, it makes compliance easier for us.”
He noted that the current compliance rate was around 80 per cent with government doing better than the private sector, hence the need to constantly engage them to close that gap.
“Our aim is to get the compliance rate to 90 per cent, and I know that it will be magical to achieve that, but continuously we have to engage employers so that they can keep improving to help us get there,” Mr Sulley added.
He encouraged employers to avoid compliance breaches by paying employees’ contributions by 14th of every month, submit contribution reports on all workers at the end of every month, and effectively collaborate with SSNIT compliance officers during inspections for data accuracy.
He said as part of efforts to expand coverage and provide additional benefits to members, the Trust had introduced a Membership Value Programme (MVP), an initiative developed in partnership with Ecobank Ghana to issue SSNIT-branded visa cards to contributors and pensioners.
Mr Sulley noted that the MVP allowed members to access some services like digital healthcare, and discounts from partner businesses, among others.
Mr Ken Herbert Hans, the Western Regional Manager of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), commended SSNIT for the engagement, saying employer compliance was paramount to an effective pensions scheme.
He said; “At the heart of effective pensions system, you need to have employers on board, because without them, we cannot have a sustained pensions scheme in Ghana so SSNIT doing this is a very laudable initiative.”
He also encouraged employers to be up-to-date with the pensions contributions for their employees to enable them to enjoy their full benefits upon retirement.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/Linda Asante Agyei
Reporter: Emmanuel GamsonÂ
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