Determined to have employers remit workers’ funds, the National Social Security Fund has launched a whistleblower platform on its website where anyone can log into to report their bosses defaulting on the payments.
A statement from NSSF notes that more than 25,000 employers are meant to pay NSSF contributions. The law requires employers with five or more employees to deduct five per cent of their workers’ salary and top it up with a 10 per cent contribution, thereby remitting the 15 per cent to the fund for every employee.
However, 12,000 of the total number of employers are not complying and of the 13,000 who are complying, only 8,900 are consistently remitting NSSF contributions for their employees.
“These figures show that a significant number of workers are being cheated out of their benefits by their employers,” Richard Byarugaba, the managing director of NSSF, said.
“It is illegal for an employer to withhold their employees’ social security contributions. The campaign is aimed at empowering employees to be vigilant and speak out to ensure that their employers remit their savings to the Fund. We do believe that when employers are compliant, workers will have an opportunity to save for their retirement,” he said.
NSSF says the identity of the whistleblower will be guarded jealously. While contributions to the fund have increased, NSSF believes the low compliance levels means there is room for improvement.
The NSSF statement notes that in the financial year 2015/16, the fund’s contributions increased by 14 per cent to Shs 785bn from Shs 688bn in the financial year 2014/15 at a time when compliance levels remained unsatisfactory. NSSF now estimates that contributions will reach Shs 900bn this financial year, especially if there is an improvement in compliance.
NSSF, the largest non-bank financial institution in the country, has a total of 1.6 million members registered with it.