The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) payments of invalidity pension, ie, members of the scheme who can no longer work due to a disease, an illness, or disablement of a permanent nature has increased by 13.68% as of the end of July 2021, compared to the same period last year, data from the Trust has shown.
The growth in the number of persons under the Trust’s invalidity pension payroll increased by 13.68%, as GH¢8.81 million was paid within the period ending July 2021 compared to GH¢7.75 million paid during the same period in 2020. In July 2021 alone, GH¢1.66 million was paid to these invalid pensioners.
The invalidity pension is a monthly cash benefit paid to members of the scheme who can no longer work due to a disease, an illness, or disablement of a permanent nature. Currently, there are about 1,473 invalid people (pensioners) who were being catered for and living financially independent lives because they joined the scheme.
This arrangement is for those who had contributed for at least 12 months within 36 months before the sickness or accident occurred and had been certified by a medical board as not being able to work again. They are therefore eligible to enjoy the benefit from SSNIT for the rest of their lives unless they recover at some point.
“These individuals, some of whom are as young as 30 are living financially independent lives because they joined the SSNIT Scheme,” the Director General of SSNIT, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang said during the launch of the SSNIT Mobile Service in Tamale, last week.
SSNIT contributions
In 2020, a total of GH¢3.3 billion was paid out as benefits. This is made up of over GH¢2.9 billion was paid to 227,000 pensioners and GH¢16.3 million was paid to some 1,400 invalid pensioners. The Trust also paid GH¢10 million to 192 emigrants, GH¢273.7 million to 24,000 survivors, and GH¢51.8 million in lump sums and other payments.
Currently, over 80% of workers in Ghana insure salaries of GH¢ 2,500.00 or less, which means that 80% are contributing GH¢275 each month, according to the Trust.
Also, 95.5% of pensioners are paid GH¢2,500 or less each month. Only 5.3% of workers in Ghana pay premium on salaries of GH¢5,000 or more. On the other hand, 1.4% of pensioners also receive GH¢5,000 and above as monthly pension.
Per the Trust, should this remain unchanged, 80% of retirees will receive a pension of GH¢1,500 or less in the future. This simply means if the contributions records of workers in active service do not significantly improve, then the reality of your pension payments may not be that different from those who are on pension now.
| Year | Total amount paid (GH¢) | Total number |
| 2021 (Half year) | 8,807,870.29 | 1,473 |
| 2020 (Half year) | 7,745,522.32 | 1,349 |
