Chennai: In a bid to ensure uniform standards of service delivery across the country and optimum utilisation of its workforce during Covid-19 pandemic, EPFO has launched a multi-location claim settlement facility.
According to a press release, this facility will bring a paradigm shift by allowing EPFO offices to settle online claims from any of its regional offices, across the country. All types of online claims such as provident fund, pension, partial withdrawal and claims and transfer claims can be processed under this novel initiative.
“Covid-19 crisis has affected 135 regional offices of EPFO with different levels of severity depending on their location. It was observed that though many offices in Mumbai, Thane, Haryana and Chennai zones operate with even less then skeletal staff on account of Covid-19 Pandemic, but there has been a disproportionate increase in claim receipt due to recently introduced Covid-19 advance,” it added.
To reduce the delays by uniformly distributing the claim settlement related workload nationwide, EPFO has moved away from the existing system of geographical jurisdiction for claim processing by rolling out multi-location claim settlement facility.