EPFO Pension Application: Date extended to apply for higher pension, deadline extended for the second time

Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has extended the deadline for opting for higher pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS). The last date for the first application was May 03, which has now been extended till June 26. This step will provide relief to those people who wanted to opt for a scheme with more pension plan. To ease the application process, online facility was provided which was to be available only till 3rd May 2023.

In fact, the Supreme Court had said in November 2022 to retain the Employees Pension (Amendment) Scheme 2014. In the EPS revision done in the year 2014, it was said to increase the pension salary cap from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 per month. Apart from this, members and employers were also told to contribute 8.33 percent of their actual salary under the Employees Pension Scheme. Now its application deadline has been extended for the second time. First of all, the Supreme Court, in an order given on 4 November 2022, had fixed the deadline till 3 March in this matter. EPFO had then extended the deadline till May 3 i.e. till today to choose the option of getting more pension. Now it has been extended further.

Till a few years ago very few people used to get the benefit of the Employees Pension Scheme. Earlier only government employees could take advantage of this. However, later the government expanded this scheme and those working in the private sector also started getting the benefits of social security. This change happened in the year 1995 and that is why the scheme is also known as EPS-95 i.e. Employees Pension Scheme-1995. Since EPS was introduced under the Employees’ Provident Fund Act, its benefits extended to every employee who was covered under the EPF. However, there was a condition in this that only those employees whose basic salary and DA is Rs 15,000 per month will get the benefit of EPS.