Labour ministry officials doing outreach work on the benefits of pensions for the private sector in August. LABOUR MINISTRY
A senior official at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) said that almost all of the private businesses mandated to pay pension contributions in the first month had fulfilled their obligations, with just 10 registered businesses failing to comply.
Meanwhile, the National Election Committee also announced plans to publish a list of retiring officials every six months, in order to manage the administration of pensions.
October was the first month the NSSF implemented the collection of four per cent social security contributions. Under the provisions of the Labour Law, two per cent is deducted from employees’ salaries, and this amount is matched by their employer.
Heng Sophannarith, NSSF’s deputy director general told The Post that pension contribution deductions began on October 1, as the contributions were to be collected in early November. He said some obligated companies have been slow to prepare documents, although the vast majority have complied.
”More than 13,000 – or about 99 percent – of the companies which were registered with the NSSF health care and occupational risk schemes have paid their contributions. There are about 10 companies that have yet to do so. This does not mean they do not intend to pay. They are aware they were late to file the paperwork and have asked us for extensions. We agreed to their requests,” he said.
As of October, 1,466,725 workers from more than 13,300 businesses and enterprises were registered in the NSSF system, he added.
In 2008, the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training introduced occupational risk insurance, and in 2021, it was run for public officials. In 2016, the government launched health care insurance for private
sector workers, and in 2018, it launched a 24-hour a day health insurance for public officials. The NSSF pension scheme was introduced this year.
Sophannarith said private sector employees and public officials now have the same social security coverage. He encouraged private companies that have not yet fulfilled their obligations to participate, for the benefit of their employees.
On December 15, the NEC held a meeting to establish guidelines on the implementation of the pension scheme and procedures for the retirement of its civil servants.
According to a press release, retirement pensions will be available to those who turn 60, officials with more than 30 years of seniority, and those who are retiring due to a disability.
The NEC said its senior civil servants will retire by Royal Decree, while lower ranked retirements will be selected internally by the NEC.
“A record of retirees will be reviewed and updated every six months,” it added.
Prach Chan, chairman of the NEC, said that in order for the process to run smoothly, lists of retired officials shall be submitted to the NEC for final approval at least three months before the retirement of each member.
“The administration department under the General Department of Administration and Finance will prepare retirement forms as soon as possible. Some of our civil servants are over 60 years of age and will retire in 2023,” he added.
