Coming soon: details of the restructuring of pension and social protection systems
Atheer - Al-Mukhtar Al-Hinai
Since the issuance of Royal Decree No. 33/2021 on the date of last April 7 regarding retirement and social protection systems, attention has been directed towards the results of preparing the draft social protection law, which includes the retirement systems that must be applied to all employees and workers, and the provisions related to the social protection system.
“Atheer” publishes for the honorable reader the details whose results will be present after less than a month from today’s date according to the Royal Decree issued 11 months ago, which referred to the formation of a committee by a decision of the Council of Ministers related to the establishment of two funds, the first “Social Protection Fund”, and the second “ The Military and Security Forces Pension Fund shall have legal personality, enjoy financial and administrative independence, and report to the Council of Ministers, and their system shall be issued by Royal Decree.
The decree referred to the formation of the committee by a decision of the Council of Ministers to assume the tasks within twelve months from the date of issuance of the decree, and it is according to the following:
- Supervising the establishment of the necessary controls and the completion of all procedures related to the transfer of functions, competencies, assets, rights, obligations, assets and financial liabilities of the funds.
- Developing controls and procedures for restructuring retirement and social protection systems, and preparing two draft systems for the two funds stipulated in Articles 1 and 2 of this decree.
- Preparing a draft social protection law that includes retirement systems to be applied to all employees and workers, and provisions related to the social protection system.
The royal decree also indicated that the minimum years of service required for voluntary retirement entitlement in all applicable laws, regulations and regulations will be 30 years, and this provision does not apply to those who have completed 20 years of service on the date of issuance of the Social Protection Law.
He pointed out that the employees transferred under the royal decrees related to restructuring the state's administrative apparatus, who have completed two-thirds of the subscription period required for entitlement to a pension on the date those decrees come into force, will continue to be treated in accordance with the provisions of the retirement laws, systems and regulations to which they are subject before their transfer, and their contributions will be paid and their rights settled in accordance with to the same provisions, without prejudice to the provisions of Article 5 of this Decree.
His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al-Muazzam - may God protect and preserve him - had issued directives in December 2020 to establish two retirement funds, the first for the civil sector and the private sector, and the second for employees of military and security units, and to amend the minimum years of service required for early retirement entitlement in all sectors. The regulations in force to be (30) years of service.
The royal orders stipulated the establishment of a unified retirement system for new recruits in all government units and the private sector, and retroactively for the current employees who did not complete one-third of the minimum period required for entitlement to a retirement pension, and with regard to the employees whose services were transferred according to the restructuring from the subject units. To other units subject to another system, His Majesty - may God protect him - directed that they continue to be subject to the previous retirement system, provided that they have spent two-thirds of the subscription period according to that system.
His Excellency Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal bin Saud al-Busaidi, Minister of the Diwan of Royal Court, issued a Diwani circular in May 2020 to all government units, public bodies and institutions in the country regarding royal orders that stipulated the following:
1- Not renewing the contracts of no less than (70%) of the foreign experts and consultants working in all civil government units without exception, upon the expiry of the concluded contracts.
2- Referring no less than (70%) of the Omani employees who hold the positions of consultant / expert / manager specialized in all civil government units without exception to retirement from those who have completed 25 years of service or more, and that is no later than 12/2020 31 based on the order of their seniority in appointment until the aforementioned percentage is met.
3- Referring no less than 70% of the employees of all civil government units, without exception, whose services exceeded (30) years, to retirement, no later than 12/31/2020, based on the order of their seniority in appointment until the aforementioned percentage is met. The remembrance.
4- The state’s financial and administrative oversight agency follows up on the entities addressed under this circular, which are subject to the agency’s oversight; To enforce the supreme commands obeying the aforementioned statement.
It is worth noting that the merged funds are the Civil Service Employees Pension Fund, the Public Authority for Social Insurance, the Royal Guard of Oman Pension Fund, the Royal Office Pension Fund, the Internal Security Agency Pension Fund, the Sultan’s Special Force Pension Fund, and the Diwan of Royal Court Employees Pension Fund. The Royal Oman Police Pension Fund, the Ministry of Defense Pension Fund, the Central Bank of Oman Employees Pension Fund, and the Petroleum Development Oman Employees Pension Fund.
