Please be advised that in June 2021, IPEC issued Guidelines for treating Unclaimed Benefits and Suspended Pensioners through Circular 19 of 2021. In order to incorporate the changes brought about by this Circular, the Fund has amended Rule 44 to read as follows:
RULE 44 Payment of Pension Benefits
44.6.1 With effect from 2 June 2021, the Fund shall publish a notice before the end of the financial year calling upon pensioners or their dependents to submit completed life certificates within 60 days after the end of the year, failure of which will result in stoppage of pension benefits by 31 March of the following year.
44.6.2 All benefits for suspended pensioners shall earn bonuses, pension increases, revaluation gains and other returns that are distributable to members in response to movements in asset values.
44.6.3 An unclaimed benefit shall remain preserved in the Fund for a maximum of five (5) years and thereafter the Fund shall lodge all such benefits with the Guardian’s Fund of the Master of High Court of Zimbabwe together with a schedule of names, addresses and the amount of each member.
44.6.4 When the Fund is dissolved, and it becomes impossible to trace a member and after all reasonable efforts have been made to trace a member to whom an amount is payable from the Fund, that amount shall be paid to the Guardian’s Fund of the Master of High Court of Zimbabwe after a period of not more than 3 years from the time the Fund is dissolved and a member cannot be traced.
44.6.5 All unclaimed benefits shall earn bonuses, pension increases, revaluation gains and other returns that are distributable to members in response to movements in asset values during the period when they are held within the Fund.
44.6.6 The Fund shall not be liable for any fluctuations or loss of value in the benefits after they are transferred to the Guardian’s Fund of the Master of High Court of Zimbabwe.
44.6.7 The Fund shall not liable for any claims of members’ funds that will have been transferred to the Guardians Fund of the Master of High Court of Zimbabwe.