As per Qatar News Agency (QNA), the Director of Customer Management at the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority (GRSIA) Ali Al Kuwari, affirmed that the implementation of Social Insurance Law No. 1 for 2022 will start Tuesday, 2 January 2023.

In an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA), 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 Oct. 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 corresponding to Tuesday so that 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. In addition, the GRSIA employees will receive training to carry out the tasks assigned to them according to their competencies.

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 contributions account to include (basic salary + social allowance + housing allowance), and allow 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 (kens) with disabilities, and the calculation of the retirement 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.

He also noted that the new law set a new minimum pension for the insured at no less than QR 15,000 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.

GRSIA's Director of Customer Management said that the new law would contribute to increasing the share of the widow to 100% of the pension in the case of the absence of other beneficiaries, the permissibility of granting a regular bonus for all or some of the pensions by a decision of the Cabinet, granting loans to pensioners by the established regulations, and permissibility of adding some salary elements to the contributions salary account by a decision of the Cabinet.

Regarding the new categories to fall under the umbrella of the new law, Al Kuwari told QNA that the insurance umbrella would include new categories that were not covered by Law No. 24 for 2002 on Retirement and Pension, indicating that the new types include: Qatari employees subject to the provisions of the Labor Law, Qatari employees in companies that are exempted from labour law and have special job regulations, Qatari employees working in GCC countries companies and entities that are not covered by the unified system for extending insurance protection, and GCC countries citizens working in entities subject to the State of Qatar's Labor Law and companies exempted from labour law and have employment systems specified for the State of Qatar.

GRSIA Director of Customer Management Ali Al Kuwari added that the categories - to which the provisions of the law apply optionally - will be self-employed Qataris who are subject to the income bracket system, namely (employers - those with free professions such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, and others), adding the Cabinet will issue a decision specifying the categories to which the system will apply along with the subscription conditions, controls and procedures.

At the end of his interview with QNA, Al Kuwari asserted that the umbrella of social insurance provides the necessary protection for the insured or his eligible persons in the face of disability, injury, ageing, natural death or accident, in accordance with specific conditions and criteria and conformity with the principle of social solidarity.

Source and cover image credit: QNA

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