In case you missed it, the process of accessing your NSSF benefits has been fully digitized to enable you to make claims online. Yes, all National Social Security Fund (NSSF) members who qualify for withdrawal of their savings can now submit and track their claims online and through their mobile phones.
This kind of innovation, which is part of the Fund’s NSSFGO Mobile & Web Application, enables qualifying members to conveniently submit required documentation directly to the Fund and monitor the progress of their benefits claims without visiting NSSF offices.
It is an effort by the Fund to ensure that the benefits payment turnaround time target, clocks to paying qualifying members within 24 hours from the current 8 days. The feature is available to all members who qualify for the Age, Withdrawal, Invalidity, Emigration Grant, and Exempted employment benefits as stated in Section 19 of the NSSF Act 1985
NSSF’s 10 years Strategic Plan from 2015-2025 pledged to innovate and to become more relevant to the Fund members, as well as to excel in business processes to be more efficient. NSSF is using the NSSFGO as the pathway to unlimited service efficiency and convenience.
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How to claim your NSSF benefits online
To access the platform, one needs to download the NSSFGO Mobile and Web Application, scroll to Benefits Application and enter the required information and documents. Upon submission, a beneficiary is able to track the benefits claim until the payment is made.
The addition of Online Benefits Submission now means that all NSSF services are available online or on mobile phones. Other services include member and employer registration, contributions payments, member contacts update, retirement benefits projections, and contributions e-statements.
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Other NSSF self-service platforms
Other self-service platforms available to customers include the E-collections Portal that allows employers to remit their employees’ contributions directly to their NSSF accounts through the Bank, the Mobile Money Platform for contributions paid by the Fund’s Voluntary savers.
Others are the NSSF Payway and the USSD *254#, a mobile platform where members can access a wide range of services.
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NSSF Benefits Mid-term fund access
The government recently decided to provide mid-term access to middle-aged struggling savers who have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic amid difficult financing choices faced by the fund’s leadership.
Under the mid-term access benefits arrangement, NSSF contributors who have saved for more than 10 years, aged over 45 years, and have lost their jobs, will be allowed to withdraw 20 percent of their savings held by the state-controlled social security agency.
According to The EastAfrican, it is estimated that close to 100,000 savers out of the two million NSSF contributors are expected to benefit from mid-term withdrawals with a total value of UGX 1 trillion ($281 million). A portion of this, UGX 200 billion ($56.3 million) is attributed to interest earned on members’ accounts, according to NSSF data. But the minimum value of withdrawal benefits likely to be received by eligible savers remains unclear.
The introduction of mid-term access benefits might slow down temptations among NSSF contributors keen to cash out their savings before the official retirement age.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that some NSSF savers have produced concocted medical reports in a bid to secure early benefits withdrawal in the past while others have deliberately resigned private-sector jobs and sought civil service plus local government jobs to get early benefits payments and pursue entrepreneurship dreams.