National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) says it is working on a digital system that will enable beneficiaries to access funeral grants more quickly after the death of a contributing member.
The funeral grant currently stands at K23,800 and is available to NAPSA members regardless of how much they have contributed.
Speaking in an interview with Money News, NAPSA Director General, Muyangwa Muyangwa said the Authority is exploring ways of automatically identifying deceased members through the Registrar of Deaths and Births and initiating payment to beneficiaries registered on its system.
Mr. Muyangwa, however, noted that the NAPSA funeral grant is currently one of the least-known benefits among it’s members, with many beneficiaries only learning about it when they make claims for other benefits.
“The challenge we have with the funeral grant is that administering it has been a problem because most people are not aware that NAPSA actually pays. So what we are trying to do is find a way to make it known,” he stated.
He said the current system often results in beneficiaries discovering the funeral grant after the deceased has already been buried, limiting its usefulness at the time it is needed most.
“So we need to find a system that allows us to know in time to intervene when they need the money,” Mr. Muyangwa said.
Mr. Muyangwa disclosed that unlike benefits that are linked to individual contributions, the funeral grant is a uniform benefit available to all eligible NAPSA members.
“Everyone is entitled to the same amount of money. Whether you contributed one million or you contributed one Kwacha, it’s the same,” he explained.
He said NAPSA is also considering more proactive ways of making the benefit known to members and their families, including ensuring beneficiaries are notified when a member dies.
Mr. Muyangwa explained that under the proposed digital system, NAPSA would use information from the Registrar of Deaths to identify deceased members and facilitate payment to the beneficiary recorded in its system.
“The move is aimed at ensuring families receive the benefit when they need it most, rather than having to discover and claim it after funeral arrangements have already been completed,” Mr. Muyangwa added.
