Soon, your PF account will be transferred automatically when you shift jobs

Facing challenge from premature account closures, EPFO is moving to improve its services

Starting next month, your provident fund (PF) account will be transferred automatically when you change your job, the Times of India reported on Friday.  

Speaking to the national daily, Chief Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy said: "We are trying to ensure transfer of money if one changes jobs, without any application, in three days. In future, if one has an Aadhaar ID and has verified the ID, then the account will be transferred without any application if the worker goes anywhere in the country. This system will be in place very soon." 

According to the report, Joy said that people closing their PF accounts prematurely was one of the main challenges faced by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Therefore, the EPFO is trying to address this challenge by improving services, and the automatic transfer of PF account at the time of a change in place of employment is one such measure, Joy told the national daily.

"Now we have made Aadhaar compulsory for enrolment. We don't want accounts to be closed. The PF account is the permanent account. The worker can retain the same account for social security," Joy said, according to the report. 

In 2014, EPFO started providing permanent or universal account numbers (UAN) to its subscribers.  

The UAN was meant to facilitate subscribers in avoiding the filing of PF transfer claims on changing jobs. 

The UAN is one account number, which is allotted to a subscriber for various schemes run by the EPFO for his or her entire service period with different employers. Since UAN was introduced, a subscriber does not need a new PF account number on joining a new firm.