The implementation of Social Insurance Law No. 1 for 2022 will start today as confirmed by Director of Customer Management at the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority (GRSIA) Ali Al Kuwari.
Al Kuwari said that the GRSIA has coordinated with all registered employers to upload the housing allowance value determined for their employees through the digital services portal on the GRSIA’s website as of October 2022, as a trial phase during the transitional period until the law enters into force to stand on the efficiency and preparedness of the systems in preparation to start working with the law.
He indicated that the GRSIA is fully prepared and ready to implement the provisions of the Social Insurance Law as of the date of its enforcement.
All employers subject to the law’s provisions — whether registered with the GRSIA according to the provision of the Law No. 24 to 2002 on Retirement and Pensions or those which the provisions of the Social Insurance Law apply as of the date of its enforcement — can update or register their employer data, employees’ information and receive inquiries or requests of the insured regarding the law electronically through the digital services portal of the employers on the GRSIA’s website.
The GRSIA employees will also receive training to carry out the tasks assigned to them according to their competences.
Al Kuwari revealed the most prominent advantages that the new Social Insurance Law will provide, saying that it will expand the scope of insurance coverage to include all citizens working in the private sector, add the housing allowance to the salary of subscription calculation to include (basic salary + social allowance + housing allowance).
It allows the civilian pensioners to combine the pension and the job salary in case that they join the private sector, except in the case of reappointment in the same entity in which they were working before their retirement.
He added that the most prominent advantages provided by the new Social Insurance Law are the exclusion of the age requirement for the insured women, reduction of the pension if the resignation is due to caring for one or more children with disabilities, and the calculation of the pension of the insured citizens in the private sector on an average salary for the last three years instead of five years under the current law.
Al Kuwari also noted that the new law set a new minimum pension for the insured at no less than QR15,000 in three cases namely: death, disability, and reaching the age of retirement (according to the age stated in the employment regulations to which the insured is subject to, with no less than 60 years).
He added that the GRSIA would grant the extra period bonus to those whose actual service period exceeds 30 years in the event of termination of service due to disability, death, or reaching the age of 60, calculating the extra years as of the law’s enforcement date on January 3, 2023.
