EPFO issues SOP for processing joint declaration for profile updation

The Employee Provident Fund Organisation has issued a fresh standard operating procedure (SOP) for the receipt of joint declarations for making corrections in the universal account number (UAN) profiles of members and employers, and the method of corrections to be followed by the Field Offices.

In an internal circular issued to its zonal offices last Tuesday, the SOP for the process of joint declaration for correction in UAN profiles by the members is being delineated to maintain the correct profile of the member, reduce rejection of the joint declaration, and minimise fraud owing to UAN identity change.

The circular says that the UANs, which were introduced in October 2014 to cull out database issues, have also started throwing a number of anomalies in profiles, leading to rejections, failures, and frauds.

"As a result, genuine members have to go through a long channel for corrections. The claims settlement also faces certain difficulties across all offices due to various reasons related to data mismatch in parameters. Thus, to maintain the correct profile of the member, reduce rejection of the joint declaration, and minimise fraud owing to UAN identity change, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Joint Declaration – Member profile correction has been framed," the circular reads.

Joint Declaration is a joint request of employees, duly authenticated by the employer, for the modification/addition of the members' basic profile parameters. The member/employer will be able to modify and mark minor changes like father/mother name, date of joining, date of birth, and gender; and major changes like Aadhaar, reason for leaving, nationality, etc.