The Fiji National Provident Fund pensioners’ validation for the new pension scheme will now continue until the end of March.

Fund Chief Executive Officer, Aisake Taito said the decision to continue with the validation is to reach out to the remaining 2,000 pensioners who have yet to formalize their status and choose their pension option.

Taito said as per the provision of the new FNPF Decree, the new age-based pension scheme is now in place and only those pensioners who have validated and exercised their pension options will transit into the new scheme.

A total of 9,000 pensioners have been validated so far and they have also chosen their pension options.

He said the validation deadline has been extended based on requests from those based overseas and those in remote areas including those affected by the recent floods.

FNPF confirms that pensioners who have been validated and exercised their option pension will receive their final payment under the old scheme in March as this is the pension due to them for February. Their first payment under the new scheme will be paid out in April.

For those who opted for lump sum withdrawal, their payment will be made in April.

Those that have validated but have not chosen a pension option will receive their final payment under the old scheme in March but they are encouraged to exercise an option as soon as possible as you will not receive any pension payment from April this year.

Pensioners who are yet to validate or choose their pension options need to do that before the end of March 31st or they will not receive pension payments from April.


Story by: Vijay Narayan