The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) is concerned with the increase in the number of unclaimed benefits and wants to pay them out.
If you are a former government employee who did not claim a pension on retirement, it is possible that you have money owed to you. If you are a dependent of a deceased person who worked for the government, and whose pension was never claimed at the time of their death, you could possibly also have a claim. This could also relate to individuals who were minor children at the time of a parent’s death but who are now adults.
An unclaimed benefit occurs when a member leaves the fund, retires, or passes away, but the benefit is not paid to the member or beneficiary within 24 months of the last day of service in line with the rules of the Fund.
The main reasons for benefits not being claimed is usually an administration issue. Therefore, it is important for members to ensure that their information is up to date, especially their nomination forms. As a member you need to make sure your nomination forms are up to date with the latest contact details of your beneficiaries.
These are some of the reasons claims are not processed:
- A member’s exit documents, known as Z102, may not have been submitted when the member left the fund, or contained errors that have not been rectified.
- The GEPF is unable to get a tax directive from SARS as the member or beneficiaries’ tax affairs are not in order. This could be because they are not registered for tax or have outstanding tax returns.
- The benefits are paid but are returned to the GEPF due to incorrect banking details, frozen or dormant accounts, or incorrect pay points.
- The GEPF does not have enough information in respect of the deceased member’s spouse(s) or beneficiaries to enable them to claim their benefits or for the fund to pay the benefits to them.
How to claim an unclaimed benefit
If the applicant is a member who has retired or resigned, the following documents are needed to claim an unclaimed benefit:
- A completed Banking Details form (Form Z894);
- A certified copy of the applicant’s ID (not older than six months);
- An updated Personal Details form (Form Z864).
If the applicant is a beneficiary of a deceased member, such as a spouse or child, the following documents are needed to claim an unclaimed benefit:
- The member’s death certificate;
- A certified copy of the beneficiary’s ID (not older than six months);
- A completed Banking Details form (Form Z894);
- A guardian letter in the case of minor beneficiaries; and
- A certified copy of the guardian’s ID (not older than six months).
GEPF has a dedicated unclaimed benefits team for each province. You can find the contact details on the GEPF website.
How the death benefit is determined
The benefit will be determined by your relationship to and financial dependency on the deceased member.
The GEPF has a set of guidelines that determine the amount paid.
A spouse could qualify for a death benefit and spousal pension. A minor child could qualify for a child’s pension, and an adult child, if named as a beneficiary, could receive a share of the death benefit.
If there are no financial dependents and the member specified the beneficiary on the nomination form, then payment would be made based on the percentages selected in the nomination form.
The claims will be assessed and determined by the trustees of the GEPF.
This article first appeared in City Press.
My brother worked as cleanerat government school still alive applied for GEPF 2yrs back but no money. What might be a problem?
He should go back to his employer – that is usually where the issue is
My father pass on 1995 I was still minor by then , he was working for the government , so no one claimed his provided fund
The article has the details on how to apply. But I do need to warn that finding pensions prior to 1998 is very difficult as the GEPF was only formed then and before then it was in different pensions
Can we claim a gepf funeral benefit that was not claimed in 2012?
you can try. It may be an admin hurdle.
Where to claim Bophuthatswana provident fund pensioners fund who where later part of GEPF ?
they would have been incorporated into the GEPF in 1998
Who is responsible for filling in the Z102 form ? Is there any way to contact them to find out why it has taken over 8 months to submit?
that would be your employer – so you need to speak to the HR department
My father passed away 2005 now we can’t find his I’d document by we have his death certificate what can we do to claim
You can contact the GEPF or his employer
My father passed away in car accident in 1989 when I was 1year old he was working at Mine so I wanna ask if I can claim now
It would all depend on what happened at the time. Best you contact the mine.
My passed away I was a miner at that time and my mother was still alive so we never go to municipality were my father used to work at till my mother passed away so now I search the documents of my late dad I only find death certificate and policy paper I don’t have id document,my late dad passed away on 2000 so it is possible for me to claim
If he was with the municipality he would not have been a member of the GEPF. They have different retirement funds. If you have a policy paper try calling the company.
|what is the time frame that GEPF an payout pension redress money
I think they have up to one year to make the payment
How about a person who claimed lum sum of R6000 thAn after that never get another money for over 12 years now since 2009
It all depends on what the lump sum payment was for and how long they worked etc
I’m the surving spouse, and ex wife is refusing to send applications for minor children at GEPF, what can I do?
Unfortunately the GEPF cannot act until they have the forms
What is the frame time for payuot
it is about 60 days once they have all the paperwork. But it does take time for the paperwork to be sorted
I would like to know if I can still claim for my mother’s funeral benefits, She passed away in 2015 and I believe my father never claim and now my father passed away last year in 2022 June
To be honest I think it would be a major admin issue with GEPF. But you can try
what about a person who had not claimed because he was imprisoned. can they lodge their claims in another province or are limited to the province where hey were working?
The claim needs to be lodged with the employer
I would like to know the process to be followed in obtaining a Guardian letter that is required by GEPF for claims on behalf if the minor. I have been sent from pillar to post with no success.
According to GEPF:
The guardian needs to approach the courts to get a guardian letter, but first the guardian needs to go to social workers to get a report that he /she will submit to the courts to get the letter.
My father used to work at Transnet and died in 1998 so I would like to know if there’s any chance he could be a GEPF beneficiary?
No, Transnet is not with the GEPF. It has its own pension