SSNIT directed to educate contributors on pension payouts 3-years to retirement

The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has tasked the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to take workers through the mechanisms involved in the calculation of their monthly pension payouts before they retire.

Chief Executive Officer of the NPRA, Atta Krufi said SSNIT is expected to educate its contributors twice before their retirement ages to enable them get acquainted with how their payouts will be arrived at.

“That is why we have given directive to SSNIT as part of all this discussion, that when a person is 57, it is best to write to the person, invite the person in, sit down with them, go through the formula with them, have a conversation with them about what goes into the computation,” he explained.

Mr. Krufi made this observation while speaking on The Key Points on TV3 Saturday, where he added that contributors are also to be taken through the process a year before they retire.

His comments come on the back of concerns raised by organized labour about being kept in the dark on how pension payments are calculated.

During the May Day celebration, General Secretary of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, Solomon Kotei called on SSNIT to explain how pension payouts are worked out for transparency sake.

According to the NPRA CEO, Ghana has different dynamics where the payout is calculated based on contributors best three years of contribution.

“The law says we look at your three best years throughout your work life, so what SSNIT will do, is to look at your best contribution…

“In other traditional defined benefit schemes, for example, the UK, they look at your national insurance contribution, tax and then they look at how you have worked over the time, that is the formula they use, and they look at your lifetime average.

“Here, they look at your three best years, now people don’t retire always at the end of the year…,” Mr. Krufi explained.

The NPRA CEO encouraged all pension contributors to constantly conduct checks to ensure that their employers are paying their SSNIT contributions.