The central government has notified many major changes under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for its employees. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Personnel, now government employees will get many new facilities and options at the time of retirement.
The biggest change in these rules is that now the benefit of retirement will be available even after completing 20 years of regular service instead of 25 years. This decision is being considered a historic step in the interest of the employees. Let us know what the rules of this new scheme are and how it will benefit you.
What is the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS)
The Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) is a new system implemented by the Central Government under the National Pension System (NPS). Its objective is to provide better financial security to the employees during their service and after retirement.
It has been clarified in the rules issued by the Ministry of Personnel that employees can switch from NPS to UPS one year before the date of retirement or three months before voluntary retirement (VRS).
What is special about the new rules
The new rules include several important provisions:
Facility to switch from NPS to UPS
Employees can avail themselves of this option when they are close to their retirement.
Contribution and compensation
The rules also provide for contributions (contributions) from both the employee and the government, compensation in case of delay in registration, and benefits in case of death or disability during service.
Benefits in different retirement situations
The benefits in cases of different reasons for retirement, such as superannuation (regular retirement), premature or voluntary retirement, disability, resignation, or forced retirement, have also been clarified.
Retirement benefit after 20 years of service
The biggest and important aspect of this scheme is that now employees will get retirement benefits not only on completion of 25 years of regular service, but also on completion of 20 years of service. Manjeet Singh Patel, National President of All India NPS Employees Federation, welcomed this move and called it a historic milestone in employee welfare.
He said that such amendments in UPS were very much needed after the implementation of the new scheme. This scheme has become effective from April 1, 2025, and this will give a new direction to the future of central employees.