National Day/46,000 Subscribers Enjoy Under Pension and Social Insurance Umbrella

Doha, December 13 (QNA) -The General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority (GRSIA) has achieved several accomplishments during the 2011/2012 fiscal year in the areas of pensions and registering the number of the eligible fully to involve them under its umbrella. As regard the civilian subscribers, the GRSIA has audit requests the new labour applications of employees to examine how they are coping with and running under the Retirement and Pension Law, and then record the organs subject to the contributions' system and guiding the bodies or organs not subject to the law. It is noted that the number of bodies at the end of 2011, amounts to (479) governmental and non-governmental employees, representing an increase of (55) work body, and by (13%) for the year 2010. The Authority has also registered the data of the new Qatari employees as per the contributions' system and adjusting them when necessary. The number of employees involved in the end of 2011, amounted to (46, 818) contributors or subscribers compared to (48, 074) contributors in 2010, representing a decline of (1,256) contributors or subscribers, representing (2.7%). The General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority has fulfilled and completed the data and documents required for the retired employees and the number of transactions of subscribers whose end of service expired in 2011, amounted to (2,954) transactions. The GRSIA replies and responds to inquiries posed by the employers and employees by subscribers' system subscriptions, which represents the most inquiries about their entitlements pensions in the event of referral to retirement, or the value of the purchase cost of a service entity, or for combining the previous service and surpassing the accounting entries, and matching balances of the owed and the actual assets, as being necessary adjustments which after validation calculated monthly subscriptions, and follow-up collected from employers, conducts the financial transactions relating to the annexation of the previous service and the number of those transactions reached (3,328). It is noted that the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority is a legal entity with an independent budget set within the general budget of the State; and it is directly attached to the Council of Ministers. The authority aims to secure honorable life to pensioners and their dependents in accordance with the pension and retirement law. With regard to the subscribers under the standard system to extend insurance protection to the GCC nationals working outside their native countries the authority has taken over the follow-up of the contributions or subscriptions of the Qatari employees working with their respective work organs in the GCC countries under the standard system to extend the insurance protection, to update their data, and collecting their subscription dues. The number of Qatari employees working outside the State of Qatar, in work organs ,based in any member country of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at the end of 2011, amounted to (47) employees working in both the governmental or public sector and the non-governmental, or private sector , an increase of (5) employees , and by (11.6%) of the year 2010. All the GCC citizens working with work organs subject to the retirement and pension Law effective in Qatar of the standard system to extend insurance protection and helping retirement and social security devices in the GCC States in the collection of subscriptions of the GCC citizens or nationals working with third work organs subject to that system. Thus the number of the GCC citizens working in Qatar by the end of 2011, reached (2,111) employees working in the governmental and non-governmental sectors, an increase of two employees, and by (0.1%) of the year 2010. Touching on the sector of the retirees and their beneficiaries (civilian and military), bringing the number of retirees at the end of 2011, to (9,643) retirees, an increase of (5,272), and by (120.6%) of the year 2010. While the number of eligible at the end of 2011, amounted to (4,048) , an increase of (1,023) and by (33.8% ) of the year 2010 . The pensions of the retirees and their beneficiaries amounted at the end of the year 2011 to the sum of Qrs. (1,448) Million, an increase of Qrs. (728) Million and by (101.1%) of the year 2010 .The authority holds the follow-up of cases of the civilian retirees returning to work, and calculating the amounts disbursed unlawfully, and follow-up collection, and returning them to the civil pension fund. The GRSIA holds the management and investment of the pension funds and conducts the implementation and periodical follow-up of investment operations, in light of the investment policy approved by the concerned authority, and refer the proposals and recommendations thereon. The value of pension funds’ investments at the end of 2011, amounted to QR (20,737) Million, of which (85.5%) inside the State, and (14.5%) outside it. The investment revenue on the investments of pension funds at the end of 2011, amounted to QR (719) Million, and the total insurance expenditures at the end of 2011, amounted to QR (1,461) Million, while the total insurance revenue at the end of 2011, reached Qrs. (3,575) Million, and the total revenue pension funds amounted to Qrs.(4,293) Million. Meanwhile the net difference of the general outcome against the income over expenditure amounted at the end of 2011, to Qrs. (2,832) Million, and the total reserves of the pension funds at the end of 2011, reached Qrs.(25.221) Million, an increase of Qrs.(3.050) Million and by (13.8%) of the year 2010. With regard to legal studies, the authority has implemented institutional courses to familiarize the authority's new staff with the practical application of the new retirement and pension law, in addition to participating in the implementation of training courses to the practical aspects of the retirement and pension law for the human resources personnel and legal affairs at the various bodies. In the area of plans and applied researches, the authority has provided the actuarial and statistical studies and participated in the preparation of the new draft law of retirement and social insurance and the preparation of applied studies of the advantages and benefits contained therein and the follow-up of preparing a sample guide for the statistical work for pension funds, and follow-up the launching and evaluation of bids submitted for the tender of the accounting services project to the civilian pension fund as well as completing the contracting procedures with the concerned company which will be in charge of implementing this project for a period of (24) months, starting from January 2012, and until the year 2014 . It will also follow-up the issuing and evaluating the bids submitted to tender of the financial structure project and accounting procedures for the pension funds, as well as completing the contracting procedures with the concerned company which will be in charge of implementing this project in 2012. Meanwhile the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority (GRSIA) have intended to implement a number of major projects in the near future 2012/2013 as follows: Application SMS messaging to communicate with auditors, management system connectivity and data exchange with employers and ISO 27100 project system and updating the systems of Microsoft, Windows and Antivirus applied in the GRSIA in addition to starting the preparation of the infrastructure for the private network application project (VPN). The authority also intends to apply the electronic archiving system, documents' management system and the authority's library management. It will also launch a website and e-services. In planning sector, the authority will prepare a strategic plan for the medium term for the period 2012-2017 and the statistical Manual of the pension funds as of 12/13/2011. The coming year will witness the completion of the updated actuarial study of the two pension funds, the civil and the military, as in 31/12/2011 and the preparation of the financial structure and the accounting policies and procedures for the pension funds in sync with the issuance of the new social security law and the preparation of its executive decisions. In the near future the review of the law No. (13) of 2006 on retirement and pensions of the military will be completed and preparing the guidelines to the working procedures of the administrative units and the organizational restructuring of the authority in light of the new law, and submitting it to the concerned authority. The plan also includes seminars and workshops for staff of the authority and the organs subject to the law. It also includes awareness campaigns of the advantages and benefits contained the law and prepare a database of categories and new regulations that will be covered by the new social insurance law and registering the new inventory data and preparing the financial and actuarial study for the retirees in employer before the issuance of law No. (24) of 2002 on retirement and pensions and preparing the necessary applications to conduct analytical studies for investments and financial centers of the funds. It is worth to mention that the Qatari citizens employed by the government are eligible to receive a state pension at age 60. Normally, the size of the pension is contingent on the salary of the employee at the time of retirement. Social allowance benefits are designated according to each person's salary and time of service. Qatar s pension system is administrated by the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority (GRSIA). The GRSIA is responsible for providing social protection to retired Qatari nationals and their family members in case of their demise by allocating pensions in accordance with the provisions of the Retirement and Pension Law. The GRSIA is also tasked with raising awareness of the pension law in all segments of society. According to the law, the Qatari pension scheme is open to employees in ministries, agencies, public institutions, joint stock companies and others as determined by a decision of the Council of Ministers. The GRSIA issues pensions to civilian and military retirees or their eligible beneficiaries in the event of death. It also manages and invests public funds in an optimal way to achieve the highest possible returns. General Retirement & Social Insurances Authority (GRSIA) is the haven for Qatari nationals through its extensive efforts in providing economic and social protection, encouraging collaborative endeavors among community members, and offering human, technical and financial skills to effectively reach the set targets and objectives and benchmark with other local authorities. Our mission is to expand the retirement coverage to embrace all employed Qatari nationals, by providing them with a decent life after their retirement. It strives to create a comfortable atmosphere for our employee to bring the best out of them through ambitious planes for self and corporate development. (QNA)