GPSSA provides extended Emirati families with fair share of pension, social security coverage

The General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) provides extended Emirati families with their fair share of pension and social security coverage, thanks to a flexible and secure insurance scheme that offers life-long financial sustainability for eligible UAE nationals.

The ‘Get Ready - Proactive Financial Planning’ campaign showcases the generous disbursements released by the GPSSA to an insured person’s beneficiaries, who, per the UAE Pension Law, includes widows, divorcees, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and parents. Pension shares are equally distributed to all those entitled to receive them and without any prejudice.

Those shares can also be re-distrusted after being discontinued if one of the entitlements is renewed. Eligible daughters, who by definition are known as unemployed, unmarried, or divorced, continue to receive their share of pension regardless of their age for decades in advance, and this share may be further extended for a period of more than 79 years. Sons and brothers stop receiving pensions after the decease of a pensioner once they turn 21, unless they do not receive their own personal income or assistance, unemployment proof however must be submitted at that stage.

As per the UAE Pension Law, pension is paid at the rate of 100 percent of the contribution calculation salary when a contribution period reaches 35 years, or if an insured suffers from a total disability or decrease due to a work-related injury regardless of his/her employment years, even if the insured’s contribution period was as little as one month.

The law also provides an insured person with the opportunity to complete a service period that qualifies him/her for a retirement pension; as an example, a female has the right to purchase a legal service period from one to ten years and increase her retirement pension by 20 percent if she decides to retire by the age of 20, while males are granted the right to purchase from one to five years and further elevate their pension earnings by 10 percent.

AED10,000 has been set as the minimum amount for a retirement pension. If an insured’s pension decreases below that limit upon retirement, he/she will be compensated based on that amount and the difference will be covered if his/her new salary is less than AED10,000.

As per the Islamic Sharia’s provisions of inheritance law, compensation worth AED75,000 is distributed to the insured’s heirs in the event that he/she has been terminated from their job due to a work-related incident that leads to total disability or disease.

A death grant is distributed to the heirs upon the pensioner’s decease equivalent to three salaries of the pension salary account and the retirement pension for family dependents. If the insured has been partially disabled due to a work-related injury, however, he/she will be entitled to receive compensation equal to the percentage of the disability multiplied by AED75,000.

WAM