The implementation of the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (SINPF) Exemption Order has expired as of Tuesday.
This means as from today, 1st July 2020 no new applications will be accepted, a statement from SINPF Media said.
Implemented since 1st April 2020, eligible members who qualified under the exemption order were able to access part of their contributions during the period;
1) as a result of them being temporarily laid off, 2) made redundancies during the period, 3) are unemployed and living in the declared emergency zone, 4) and those above 50 years who would want to draw part of their contributions.
At the beginning of the week, 19,668 members had applied for a total amount of $94.6M.
About 18,910 members had collected their payments either through cash or cheques or through their bank accounts worth more than $91.1M.
About 341 members are yet to collect their payments worth more than $1.3M.
All applications that are currently pending, accepted, and already being processed and received within the past few days to close of business yesterday (30 June 2020) will be processed for payments.
A final external payout will be organised for Friday 3 July 2020 at SINPF Town Ground property for all uncollected payments and for applications that were accepted and processed after 30 June 2020, the statement said.
“After the final external payout, all uncollected payments will be collected at our Employers and Members department, temporary currently located at Anthony Saru building ground floor,” the statement said.
Members who for one reason or another are not able to collect their payments have up to 30th September 2020 to collect their payments.
In the period up to 30 September 2020, management will make all means to communications to these members.
“If by the end of 30 September 2020 are not collected, these amounts will be deposited back into their contribution accounts,” the statement said.
It has been a challenging and as well a rewarding experience for all the officers of the Fund who were directly or indirectly involved to making the implementation orders a success in terms of serving the more than 19,600 members who had so far lodged their application and had already received their payments, the statement added.
The SINPF Board has thanked all the members who had been patient and cooperative from the time they lodged their application to when they received their payments.
“Their support and cooperation deserve to be mentioned and acknowledged by the Board.
“The Board would also like to thank the team at the Fund for their hard work and tireless efforts in implementing the exemption orders,” the statement concluded.
