GPSSA announces amendments to ‘Shourak’ programme

As part of the “End it right” campaign launched by the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA), insured individuals have been offered more flexible features when switching jobs, as per recently amended conditions in the Shourak programme.

Shourak’s main aim is to improve the quality of life of insured individuals while achieving financial stability for them and their families since it allows insured Emiratis to merge service years without having to incur an additional cost, while completing the eligible pension period.

The amendments to the Shourak programme apply to requests submitted to the GPSSA after 1st July 2023 retroactively since some applications submitted during that period have exceeded the one month and were rejected accordingly.

To ensure requests are valid and that end-of-service gratuities are not paid to insured individuals in the process, the insured must submit a request to their entity by the end of the service period and sign an agreement declaration to “not” be paid the end-of-service gratuity, as well as join a new employer within “six months” from the end-of-service period.

A request to merge the service within “three months” from joining the new entity must be submitted; the amendment applies retroactively to those whose service period has ended after 1st July 2023.

It is crucial that the insured is “not” indebted to the government for any reason related to professional performance and to recover what was unjustly paid.

Additionally, Shourak does not apply to previous employment years that ended before 1st July 2023, but instead includes service periods that ended after that date.

The programme caters to insured individuals who wish to move from one employer to another under the GPSSA’s umbrella, whether the entities are federal, government or private. However, it does not apply to those whose service periods have ended with an entity subject to other UAE-based pension authorities.

Pensioners or individuals who meet the pension entitlement criteria are not included in the Shourak programme, nor are those who have worked for less than one year since insured individuals are not entitled to receiving an end-of-service gratuity if they have spent less than one year in an entity.

Insured individuals cannot request an end-of-service gratuity for their previous employment years after undergoing the Shourak procedures.

WAM