The Social Welfare Council has issued a notice—the second in eight months—in the name of domestic and international non-governmental organizations operating in the country to enrol themselves and their employees to the government’s social security schemes.

Domestic and international NGOs are requested to enlist themselves and their employees in the Social Security Fund as per the written request from the fund on August 5, the council stated in a notice last week.

The council had also called on the NGOs to participate in the programme back in January.

“We issued the notice after the labour ministry asked us to communicate to the NGOs that they enrol themselves and their employees to the social security programme,” said Shiva Kumar Basnet, spokesperson at the council. “So far, there has not been much participation in the programme from the NGOs, as they are seeking clarity on a number of issues.”

One of the key concerns raised by the NGOs is the inability of their employees to make regular contributions to the fund once they lose their jobs or after the project period is over.

As per the Social Security Plan Operation (Working Procedure), one may be denied facilities under three schemes out of four, provided the employee and the employer keep a gap of more than three months to contribute to the fund.
The four schemes are: treatment, health and maternal security plan; accident and disability security plan; dependent family security plan; and elderly security plan.

Under the treatment, health and maternal security plan, the contributor can claim up to Rs 100,000 in treatment cost for hospitalization but for the Out Patient Department (OPD treatment), one can claim up to Rs 25,000 in treatment cost.

Under the accident and disability security plan, the contributor will get entire treatment expenditure for the accident at the workplace or for the treatment of disease caused by the nature of the job. The fund bears the cost upto Rs 700,000 in case an accident happens outside the workplace. For disability from the accident, the contributor is eligible to receive a certain amount for the entire life based on degree of disability.

Under dependent family security plan, if the contributor dies, dependent family members get 60 percent of the basic salary for their entire life along with Rs 25,000 for performing the last rite of the contributor. Under the elderly security plan, a contributor can get the retirement benefit at once or pension for the entire life after 60 years.

According to Bibek Panthi, spokesperson of the fund, the contributor cannot get benefits under the first three schemes if contribution is delayed by more than three months.

In order to participate in the social security programme, an employer has to contribute 20 percent and an employee should contribute 11 percent of his or her basic salary.

“NGOs employees will not benefit from the programme if they are denied the benefits for failing to make timely contributions to the fund,” said Jitram Lama, president of NGO Federation, a grouping of the national NGOs.

He said that the nature of job in the NGO sector is like that of the semi-informal sector where job continuation is not guaranteed, which makes employer and employee to make regular contributions difficult.

“We are also concerned whether the Social Security Fund would provide loans to the contributors as many insurance companies do,” he said.

Most staff in NGOs are hired for specific projects and their employment is automatically terminated after the project period is over. 

Nevertheless, domestic and foreign NGOs have expressed their commitment to join the programme.

In January, the representatives of international and domestic international non-governmental organisations had submitted a commitment paper to the council, saying that they will enrol their staff to the programme.

In fact, 5654 staff of 618 domestic and foreign NGOs have already enrolled in the programme as of Sunday, according to the fund.

Basnet, however, said that finding a way around the challenge posed by the short-term employment of NGO staff was still a tricky issue.

“Those who have long-term operations could easily participate in the programme. However, there are some NGOs that have notified us that they cannot participate,” said Basnet.

The council plans to hold a meeting with the concerned NGO representatives to discuss the matter in a few days. 

“We also plan to hold talks with the new board of the Social Welfare Council,” said Basnet.

The fund does not have any immediate plan to change the policy regarding continued contributions from employers and employees to receive the benefits under the treatment, health and maternal security plan; accident and disability security plan and dependent family security plan.

“It has been just a year since the fund launched these schemes,” said Panthi. “Until the fund achieves required maturity, it cannot take many risks.”

He said that the employees of the NGOs could pay even if they are not holding their jobs because the amount to be paid is very low compared to what they may have earned during their employment.

Panthi said that the fund plans to provide loans to the contributors after the Cabinet endorses its proposal. As per the social security law, it can provide credits for building home, education and social activities but the Cabinet is yet to endorse the regulations.

The contribution-based Social Security Scheme is one of the most ambitious programmes of the KP Sharma Oli administration. The programme was rolled out in November last year with the aim of protecting and securing private-sector employees.

The government aims to serve nearly 3.5 million people by ensuring social security of private-sector workers with a comprehensive welfare package. But, the response to the welfare fund so far has not been encouraging. As of August 14, as many as 12,608 entities have registered with the Social Security Fund. As many as 170,983 are beneficiaries from the private sector since government employees are not included at present.

There are 922,445 economic establishments (firms related to agriculture, trading and industrial and services, and various other institutions) as per the data of 2018, the latest available, together, these firms engage more than 3 million people, according to the National Economic Census conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics.