Confused About Getting Your Pension Certificate from EPF? Here's What to Do Next

I am 44 years of age and I used to work for Tech Mahindra Business Services Limited. I resigned on 18th April 2017 after 11 years and 5 months of service. I got an option to withdraw my PF, which I did, and got the same credited to my bank account in 30 days after applying for it through the organization after a 2-month waiting period. I was informed that since I worked for more than 10 years, I would be eligible for a pension after 58 years of age. Of course, the PF that was released for me was excluding the Pension Fund. I have not received any Pension Certificate from the EPF office confirming the same. Can someone please help me and tell me the further procedure? All the relevant forms have been filled and given to the organization, who have further submitted them to the EPF office to release PF.

Understanding the Scheme Certificate

The certificate you received from the PF Organisation is called a Scheme Certificate. This certificate is an authentic record of your past service. When you join an organization where PF applies, you can surrender this certificate to the PF, and with this surrender, your past service will be added to your new service. When you retire from the new organization, your pensionable service will be the total service, including the service mentioned in your Scheme Certificate, such as the service from Tech Mahindra. If you leave the second organization, you can apply for another Scheme Certificate in which your accumulated service will be mentioned.

Alternatively, you can retain the Scheme Certificate with you. When you leave your second job, you can obtain another Scheme Certificate in which the service of the second organization will be mentioned. Likewise, you may have any number of Scheme Certificates. Upon reaching the age of 58, when you apply for a pension, you can surrender all the certificates and get the credit for your service.

I would suggest that surrendering the Scheme Certificate every time you join a new organization is not practically advisable because the PF Office may miss out on giving credit for your service, requiring frequent visits to the office. Instead, when you mention the Scheme Certificate numbers in your pension application (Form 10D), there is no risk.

Dear Madhu,

Thank you for your reply. I am retired now and I have received the full PF amount in my bank account, but I have not yet received the pension certificate. How can I obtain it?

Regards,
Sandeep

Applying for a Scheme Certificate

You should apply for a scheme certificate. If you have retired upon attaining 58 years and after having rendered 10 years of service, then you can directly apply for a pension even without a scheme certificate. A scheme certificate is obtained when you leave an establishment before reaching the age of superannuation.

If you had service in different establishments and whenever you left each establishment, you had transferred the PF benefits, then you may not hold any scheme certificate. With each change of employment and transfer of PF, your service would have been transferred and accumulated. In such a case, if you apply for a pension, you will receive it based on your total service.

Dear Madhu,

Thank you for your reply. I am only 44 years of age and have signed all the documents and given them to my organization, which were then submitted to the PF office using form 10C about 10 months ago. My question is, I have not yet received my Pension certificate. How do I apply for the same?

Regards,
Sandeep

Scheme Certificate and Withdrawal Benefits

You have not mentioned whether you have opted for a scheme certificate in lieu of withdrawal benefits. There is a question in Form 10C like, "Would you like to have a scheme certificate in lieu of withdrawal benefits?" If you had answered "Yes" to it, then you would have also provided the details of your family, the name of your spouse, and the names and dates of birth of your children. You should have attached the birth certificates of your children. It is based on these details that you provide and the documents that you submit that the scheme certificate is prepared and sent to you. Opting for a scheme certificate is the only option if you have worked for 10 years because once you have worked for 10 years, you cannot opt for withdrawal benefits.

Verification of Service Period

Now, please verify whether you have more than 10 years of service (even 9 years and six months' service is enough for you to be eligible for a pension). If not, please check if you have received the amount of the Pension Fund by choosing to withdraw the pension fund.

Thank you for your reply. I have submitted the 10C form along with all the relevant documents to my organization, which has been forwarded to the PF office. My service tenure was 11 years and 5 months, and I chose to make a full PF withdrawal, which has been credited to my account. I was informed that I would receive a Pension certificate after 6 months of the PF credit to my bank account. This certificate can be surrendered to the PF office upon reaching 58 years of age to opt for a monthly pension or to take a full interest-free withdrawal of the pension.

My query is, "I have not received my Pension Certificate." How can I obtain it now? I am attaching my PF statement for your reference.

Regards, Sandeep Butaney

Dear Sandeep,

Please escalate the matter to your employer regarding non-receipt of the "Scheme Certificate." Your employer will follow up with the PF Department to know the status. Alternatively, you can check the status of your withdrawal claim on the EPF website. Please follow up on the matter without any delay. Are you currently employed?

Thank you.

If you have 11+ years of service, you should definitely obtain a Scheme Certificate. Please contact the PF office as soon as possible to obtain further details.

Thank you, Srinath and Madhu.

I am glad to know that I have finally got the answer that I have to contact the PF office and the employer. This has also been done, and there is no reply from either of the parties for the past 8 months now.

What else to do?

Regards,
Sandeep

Dear Mr. Sandeep, In my earlier reply, I suggested, "Alternatively, you can check the status of your withdrawal claim on the EPF website." For reasons best known to you, you ignored this. Please review the attachment for your claim status.

According to the statement, you initially chose EPS Withdrawal, which has been rejected as your membership exceeds 10 years. Alternatively, a Scheme Certificate could not be issued due to the lack of required details. Kindly submit a fresh Form 10C with all necessary details and attachments for the certificate issuance. In the meantime, you can update your online nomination in the UAN Portal. Please share the attachment with your employer.

Thank you for your reply, Srinath. I have submitted all the details of my family members to the employer at the time of requesting the PF withdrawal. I have received my PF but not my scheme certificate at all. I really do not know why they have rejected my claim for the scheme certificate. I am no longer in Mumbai and have retired and settled in a different state.

Resubmitting Documents for Scheme Certificate

How should I go about resubmitting the documents? Can I send the 10C form filled out again with Aadhar card copies of my family members by speed post to receive the scheme certificate, or can this be done online?

I am hoping for your favorable response.

Regards,
Sandeep Butaney

Addressing Grievances with the PF Office

Such matters cannot be escalated by sending letters to the PF Office. Instead, you should visit the office personally or send someone on your behalf to speak directly with the concerned persons. Subsequently, hand over the written grievance to the appropriate official and await their response. There have been notable improvements in their approach towards members, but the outcome still hinges on how you present the issue to the PF Officials. Therefore, I recommend taking proactive steps and addressing the matter promptly, rather than waiting for the online system to become available or engaging in prolonged correspondence.