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The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has implemented auto-mode payment of advance claims for housing, education, and marriage in order to improve living conditions for its crores of members.

The retirement fund authority has declared that all claims under paragraph 68K — schooling and marriage reasons — and 68B — housing purposes — of the EPF Scheme, 1952, would henceforth be covered by the auto-claim solution.

Settlement of EPFO auto claims

The EPFO has implemented an auto-claim solution that eliminates the need for human interaction by processing claims automatically using an IT system.

Furthermore, it said that the previous Rs 50,000 ceiling has been quadrupled to Rs 1,00,000. It is anticipated that this action would help lakhs of EPFO members.

Many members will directly benefit from the auto claims’ expansion to include housing, marriage, and education purposes, as well as enhancements. This will enable them to access their funds in the shortest amount of time, which will significantly help them meet their housing, marriage, and education requirements as soon as possible.

Settlement of claims

During 2023–2024, EPFO paid 4.45 crore claims, 2.84 crore of which were advance claims (for money withdrawal).

In the fiscal year 2023–2024, the EPFO paid over 4.45 crore claims, of which 2.84 crore (or more than 60%) were advance claims (for monies to be withdrawn due to sickness, marriage, or schooling).

Approximately 89.52 lakh advance claims were resolved automatically out of all the claims that were satisfied throughout the year.

Human involvement is eliminated since the whole auto-settlement process is driven by IT systems.

Consequently, for such advances, the frequency of claim settlement has notably decreased from 10 days to 3–4 days.

Claims that the system is unable to validate are neither rejected nor returned. They are carried out in order to get permissions and inspections at a higher level.

Introduced nationwide on May 6, 2024, the EPFO has since authorized 13,011 cases for a total of Rs 45.95 crore under this scheme, which offers prompt service.

In April 2020, the auto mode of claim settlement was implemented to help individuals with advance sickness claims. The maximum amount that may be claimed is now Rs 1,00,000.

It is anticipated that around 2.25 crore members will profit from this feature this year.

Anirudh Prasad asked for an advance for sickness under para 68J (of the program) on May 9, 2024, and his advance claim was satisfied on May 11, 2024, for Rs 92,143 within three days, according to the labor ministry, citing an example.

It said that there are other tales similar to Anirudh Prasad’s at EPFO.