EPFO Auto Claim Settlement: Now, your advance claims can be settled in 3 days

financialexpress.com:

Good news for EPFO subscribers! Now, advance claims are being settled within 3 days, reducing the service delivery time by a significant margin.

Citing an example of an advance claim settlement, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) said one Anirudh Prasad had applied for advance for illness under para 68J on May 9, and his advance claim was settled on May 11, 2024 for an amount of Rs 92,143 within three days. There are many such stories like that in EPFO.

Last month, the EPFO in a reply to a member’s query on the time being taken for the claim settlement process said that it normally takes 20 days to settle a claim.

Also Read: EPF Claim Settlement: How many days does it take for an employee’s provident fund claim to process? Here’s what EPFO says

Meanwhile, the EPFO has introduced auto-mode settlement of advance claims for the purpose of education, marriage and housing, the labour ministry said in a statement on Monday. The move is expected to enhance ‘ease of living’ for crores of EPFO members.

Under the auto-mode settlement by the retirement fund body, the claim is processed automatically by the IT system without any human intervention.

The EPFO introduced this auto settlement facility in April 2020 for the purpose of advance for illness. Its purview has now been expanded to other purposes like education, marriage and housing as well. Now this limit has been enhanced to Rs 1,00,000. During the current year, around 2.25 crore members are expected to reap the benefits of this facility, the EPFO said.

During FY2023-24, the EPFO settled around 4.45 crore claims, out of which more than 60% (2.84 crore) claims were advance claims. Out of total advance claims settled during the year, around 89.52 lakh claims