The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has settled 13.49 lakh Covid-19 advance claims from April 1 to May 31 this year, disbursing Rs 2,603.47 crore, accounting for 9.65 per cent of the overall claims made by the claimants, a source said. During April 1-May 31, the requirement fund body settled 71.78 lakh claims — including final PF settlements, death claims, insurance claims, and withdrawals including advance claims for Covid-19 — disbursing Rs 26,967.52 crore in total, the source said, citing data shared in an internal communication of the EPFO. Exempted establishments, which run their own provident fund trusts, have settled 12,875 Covid-19 advance claims disbursing an amount of Rs 100.42 crore till May 27. "About 99.5 per cent of the claims were settled within the mandated period of 20 days in April, which improved to 99.7 per cent in May. Total pending claims beyond 20 days were 1,736 in May as against 2,505 at the end of April," the source said. The number of withdrawals were significant last year too: from April 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022, the EPFO settled 2.69 crore claims, disbursing Rs 90,567 crore to its members. During April-October 2020, the EPFO had settled 149.31 lakh settlement and advance claims amounting to Rs 55,900.88 crore, of which 47.58 lakh were Covid advance claims worth Rs 12,220.26 crore. During the lockdown period of March 25, 2020-May 31, 2020, the EPFO had settled 31.01 claims as against 51.54 claims settled in 2021-22 (till March 22), 57.55 claims in 2020-21 and 51.44 claims in 2019-20. A member of the EPF Scheme, 1952, can avail withdrawal and advance from the EPF before retirement for specified purposes, such as medical emergency, marriage, higher education or purchase of house, etc. Moreover, subscribers who have been unemployed for over a month can withdraw up to 75 per cent of their balance. After the onset of the Covid-19, the scheme was amended in March 2020 to allow non-refundable advance to EPF members during pandemic/epidemic by facilitating members to avail advance from their EPF account to the extent of 75 per cent of their balance or three-month wages, whichever is less. The EPF members can opt for the Covid advance facility twice, with the government in 2021 allowing those who have already availed the first advance to opt for a second advance.
