• Amendments were made with the intention of minimising unnecessary expenses

By Chaturanga Samarawickrama  

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Act will be amended allowing the owners to obtain 30% of their provident fund accumulation according to their needs, Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said while addressing the monthly meeting of the Labour Advisory Council yesterday.

So far, 30% of the beneficiaries’ funds have been released only for housing construction purposes or for medical treatment. In order to obtain it, the applicants had to submit more documents. There were reports of corruption, irregularities and fraudulent activities due to regulations that required the submission of a number of special documents.  Therefore, amendments were made with the intention of minimising unnecessary expenses after considering the complaints received that the applicant was spending a large sum of money preparing those documents.   

In the future therefore, members will be able to easily obtain 30% of their funds from the Employees’ Provident Fund for any of their needs, the Minister said.  

As a result, members who have contributed more than Rs.300,000 to the EPF Department for ten consecutive years, will be eligible for these 30% pre-benefits, according to the Minister.  

The Minister points out that after this amendment,  EPF members will also have the opportunity to receive a 30% pre-benefit for their children’s education, marriages, repairs to houses and to buy vehicles.