Social Security and National Insurance Trust
On 2nd and 9th November 2021, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) will meet compliant employers for breakfast meetings scheduled for Accra and Kumasi respectively.
The event is the second of its kind to be held since the maiden edition in 2019 which saw about 50 employers attending in Accra.
This year, about 170 stakeholders, consisting of employers, Organised Labour, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and other participants are expected to grace the occasion.
Organised under the theme, ‘Social Security: Employer compliance and its impact on businesses and employees’ morale’, the event forms part of efforts to continuously strengthen the relationship between the Trust and employers to improve compliance.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of SSNIT, Ms. Afua Sarkodie, noted during an interview that the meeting is expected to deepen employers’ understanding on social security to enable them see payment of contributions as an investment in their employees and businesses.
“These engagements will strengthen the commitment of employers in paying SSNIT contributions of their workers. Employers often say that workers are their most valuable assets. Paying their SSNIT contributions will demonstrate the premium employers place on workers”, she said.
She explained that the selected employers from the two regions have diligently fulfilled their social security obligations over the past year and these meetings are to engage and encourage them to keep up with their model behaviour.
“It will hopefully also encourage non-compliant employers to see the need in the payment of social security contributions”, Ms. Sarkodie added.
Other meetings have also been slated for non-compliant employers as part of efforts to improve compliance.
The meeting will provide a platform to discuss challenges facing employers concerning the SSNIT Scheme and how those challenges can be resolved. It will also serve as an avenue to offer an update on the available service channels employers can access for ease of doing business with the Trust.
This year’s event will afford the Trust the opportunity to update employers on the current happenings in the operations of the Trust including the adoption of Members’ Ghana Card numbers as Social Security numbers and its impact on Contribution Report processing and other SSNIT transactions.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is a statutory public Trust charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008, Act 766 with the administration of Ghana’s Basic National Social Security Scheme.
As the operator of the First Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme, it replaces part of income of workers in Ghana due to Old Age, Invalidity or Death of a Member where lump sum payment is made to dependants. It also pays Emigration benefit to non-Ghanaian Member who is leaving Ghana permanently.
The SSNIT Pension has an active contributor base of about 1.7 million. In October 2021, the Trust paid a total of Gh¢246.59 million to some 219,598 pensioners.