Pension funds holding nearly $30M in unclaimed benefits
Phillimon Mhlanga
HARARE- Nearly $30 million of vital pension benefits have gone unclaimed at the country’s pension funds due to lack of knowledge on the part of pension scheme members.
This has also been attributed to poor record-keeping by the pension funds themselves or outdated records, which make it difficult for the pension funds to trace the members.
Josphat Kakwere, the head of pensions at Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC), said about 52 664 pensioners were missing out on millions of dollars of critical benefits they are entitled to, a situation he described as worrisome.
“There is quite a huge amount of more than $28 million of pension benefits which are due but not claimed,” Kakwere told delegates attending an insurance and pensions seminar organised jointly by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe and IPEC in the capital on Tuesday.
“This is quite a challenge and worrisome because people get to retirement age and they don’t claim their benefits,” he added.
This means the affected pensioners could be living in poverty yet they have money that they have not claimed from their pension funds for years.
According to information obtained from IPEC, the majority of pensioners not claiming their benefits were those that were working in the clothing and mining industries.
The latest figure of 52 664 pensioners who have not been able to claim their benefits from pension funds has more than doubled compared to the 23 510 pensioners reported last year.
In its latest quarterly report, IPEC indicated that Stand Alone Funds stood at 11 584, Self Administered Funds accounted for 7 277 while Insured Funds had 4 850.
Given all this, IPEC, said it was therefore important for employers to sensitise their employees that they were entitled to pensions when they leave employment on retirement or contribution refunds when they resign before reaching retirement age.
Pension funds must also maintain accurate membership data and contact details of all its members for easy tracking, IPEC said.
