The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), as of July 2021 has been able to compensate invalid workers with an amount of GH¢8.81 million, as compared to a total of GH¢7.75 paid out in the same period last year.
The month of July 2021 witnessed some GH¢1.66 million being paid out to the invalid pensioners.
SSNIT experienced a surge in its payment to invalid beneficiaries due to an increase of 13.68 percent in the number of invalid persons on the scheme, as at the end of July 2021.
These invalid beneficiaries SSNIT describes include persons “who no longer work due to a disease, an illness, or disablement of a permanent nature”.
As such for displaced beneficiaries to enjoy from the Trust’s scheme, the person should have been certified and declared as medically unfit to do any work going forward.
As disclosed by the Trust, over 1,473 displaced beneficiaries who are “being catered for, are living financially independent lives because they joined the scheme”.
According to the Trust, in order to qualify as a beneficiary to the invalid pensions scheme, one should have contributed for at least twelve (12) months with 36 months before the event of an accident or a sickness occurred.
Additionally, once the potential beneficiaries qualify, they will continue to “benefit from SSNIT for the rest of their lives unless they recover at some point”, the Trust disclosed.
SSNIT’s Director General, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang also disclosed that “these individuals, some of whom are as young as 30 are living financially independent lives because they joined the SSNIT Scheme”.
Overview of SSNIT’s benefit payments
As it stands now, the Trust disclosed that over eighty (80) percent of salary workers in Ghana insures an amount (salary) of GH¢2,500 or less.
This literally mean 80 percent of the Trust’s contributors pay GH¢275 each month, the Trust disclosed.
Furthermore, the Trust revealed that “should this remain unchanged, 80 percent of retirees will receive a pension of GH¢1,500 or even less in the near future”.
Also, the Trust revealed that 95.5 percent of pensions beneficiaries are compensated with GH¢2,500 or less.
Additionally, “only 5.3% of workers in Ghana pay premium on salaries of GH¢5,000 or more”, the Trust revealed.
Conversely, SSNIT revealed that 1.4 percent of the pension beneficiaries receive GH¢5,000 as monthly compensations.
The Trust further revealed that, “if the contributions records of workers in active service do not significantly improve, then the reality of your pension payments may not be that different from those who are on pension now”.
Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, further revealed that “the salaries on which one contributes, determines the pension that is paid”.
Pensioners have been admonished to try as much as possible to merge their SSNIT and NIA cards, as it will be the only means of identification, the Trust disclosed.
“The plan is that from 2022, the Ghana Card will be the only accepted means of identification required for members to transact business with SSNIT.”
SSNIT
SSNIT also disclosed during its SMS week that the Trust is “focused on creating a favourable platform will enable more informal sectors to sign onto the SSNIT Scheme”.
This initiative, the Trust believes, will help to reach the larger informal sector and will help bring its services to the doorsteps of clients.
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