adminNSSA gave pensioners from October last year until the end of last December to submit a NSSA Life Certificate together with a photocopy of their national identity card and clearly stated that failure to do so would result in the pension being suspended, NSSA warned. Although the time given for the submission of Life Certificates has expired, it is still possible for pensioners to present a Life Certificate to their nearest NSSA office. If they, however, do submit their certificate and copy of national identity cards without delay, their pension will continue to be paid beyond April.
However, time is running out. The purpose of life certificates is to satisfy NSSA that those to whom it is paying a pension are still alive and entitled to their pension.
Those who have not presented to NSSA a completed life certificate will be presumed dead or no longer entitled to a pension.
So if you are a pensioner and have not submitted a Life Certificate to NSSA since last October you need to do so now in order to ensure you still receive your pension. If you are not a pensioner but know somebody who does receive a pension from NSSA, do them a favour by asking if he or she has handed in a completed Life Certificate to NSSA.
If no certificate has been submitted, advise the pensioner to do so now, to avoid the inconvenience of having the pension stopped. NSSA’s Life Certificate can be obtained from post offices, branches of the People’s Own Savings Bank or a NSSA office.
NSSA began distributing the certificates, through post offices and the POSB, as well as its own offices, in October last year.
Those receiving pensions who have not yet completed and submitted the Life Certificate to NSSA should collect and complete the certificate now, attach a photocopy of their national identity card to it and hand in the certificate and photocopy of their ID card personally at their nearest NSSA office.
The reason that personal submission is required is because NSSA officials want to verify that the national identity card submitted is that of the pensioner and that the pensioner is indeed alive. The best way to verify that the pensioner is indeed still alive is to see him or her for oneself and compare the picture on the identity card with the person submitting it.
The requirement for periodic submission of life certificates is common to most, if not all, pension funds. Pensions are paid every month for life. If pension funds do not take steps to check on whether the pensioner is still alive, they could continue paying the person’s pension every month long after the pensioner has died.
Distributing Life Certificates for pensioners to return within a specified time limit is the most common means that pension funds employ in order to try to prevent this happening.
This is what NSSA began doing last October. It is inevitable that there will still be instances of pensions being paid to people who have died.
What happens when a person dies after submitting a Life Certificate? Unless NSSA is informed, it is likely to continue paying the pension until the next time it calls for the submission of Life Certificates. However, requiring pensioners to complete and return a Life Certificate minimises the period during which a pension may continue being paid into the account of someone who has died.
There will, of course, always be conscientious spouses or other family members who will inform NSSA when a pensioner dies, so that NSSA can stop the pension. Executors of wills should also inform NSSA of a pensioner’s decease so that the pension can be stopped.
Those who wish to obtain a funeral grant on the death of a pensioner or to claim a survivor’s benefit will obviously bring the death to the authority’s attention so that they can claim these benefits. However, there may be some deaths that go unreported. That is why it is necessary to periodically require the submission of a Life Certificate.
It may be an inconvenience for the pensioner, particularly as the certificate has to be submitted personally. However, it is a necessary requirement to ensure pension funds are only paid to those who remain entitled to them.
If a pensioner is bedridden or unable to travel to a NSSA office because of some physical infirmity, then guidance should be sought from the nearest NSSA office on what to do to satisfy NSSA’s requirements. Likewise if the pensioner is out of the country, NSSA should be informed and guidance sought on what to do.
The purpose of providing a time limit for the return of completed pension forms and then suspending the pensions of those who have not submitted a certificate is to give pensioners sufficient time to comply with the requirement and to stop payments that may be going to people who have died.
Therefore, any pensioner who submits a Life Certificate after the deadline will, if the pension has not already been suspended, still be able to receive a pension.
If the pension has already been suspended then the pensioner can still produce the Life Certificate and the pension will then be restored, with payment for the months that the pension was suspended made as well. The pension restoration may not happen immediately but back-payments will be made for those months when the pension was not made.
It is obviously best to avoid having one’s pension suspended and then having to request its resumption. Any pensioner who has not yet submitted a Life Certificate is therefore strongly advised to submit one as soon as possible, to avoid the pension being suspended.
Talking Social Security is published weekly by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. There is also a weekly radio programme, PaMheponeNSSA/Emoyeni le NSSA, discussing social security issues at 6.50 pm every Thursday on Radio Zimbabwe and every Friday on National FM. There is another social security programme on Star FM on Wednesdays at 5.30 pm. Readers can e-mail issues they would like dealt with in this column to [email protected] or text them to 0772-307913. Those with individual queries should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706517-8 or 706523-5.
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