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A FUNERAL grant is payable to help with the funeral expenses of any national pension scheme member who has died, whether it be a current or past contributor, as long as contributions were paid for at least 12 months.
That includes those who are receiving a retirement or invalidity pension from NSSA and those who received a lump sum retirement grant. It includes those who were contributing to the national pension scheme at the time they died and those who contributed in the past but are no longer employed.

The only restriction is that contributions to the pension scheme must have been made for at least 12 months.

The funeral grant, which is currently $300, is only available, however, for the funeral of a person who actually contributed to the national pension scheme and was hence a member of it.

It is not payable for the funeral of other beneficiaries, such as a spouse, child or parent of the contributor who may have been receiving a survivor’s pension.

The answer, therefore, to the person who enquired whether a contributor’s mother who was receiving a benefit from NSSA and who passed on would have been entitled to the funeral grant for her burial is that she would not have been entitled to it.

The funeral grant is payable for the funeral of any contributor, whether past or present, who contributed to the national pension scheme for at least 12 months. It is not available for anyone else, whether or not that person received a benefit from NSSA.

The claim form for the funeral grant is the same as that used for all other claims, namely the P9/P10 form. There is a section on this form that needs to be completed by the contributor’s last employer.

It is payable to whoever is responsible for meeting the funeral costs of the deceased contributor. What are required, in addition to the completed P9/10 form, are certified photocopies of the death certificate or, if the claim is made soon after he death occurs, burial order and a certified copy of the claimant’s national identity card, driving licence or valid Zimbabwean passport.

If the documents are all in order, then the payment can be processed and paid while the claimant waits.

However, the claim can be made any time within five years after the death of the contributor or pensioner.

The concession which, for this year only, allows retirement, survivor’s and invalidity grants to be claimed later than after five years, so long as the claim is submitted before the end of this year, does not apply to the funeral grant.

Normally all national pension scheme grants have to be claimed within five years. Late claims are not considered. However, those who submitted retirement grant, survivor’s grant or invalidity grant claims late can still submit them or resubmit them, even if they were previously rejected for being late, as long as they have been submitted between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2014. After that the strict five year rule will apply again.

However, this does not apply to funeral grants, which, contrary to the impression that was given in a previous article in this column, still cannot be claimed later than five years after the death has occurred.

The survivor’s benefit is limited to either a grant or a pension, depending on the contribution period, for the contributor’s surviving spouse and children under the age of 18 or, if in full time employment, 25.

If there is no surviving spouse or children the benefit may be paid to other dependants, such as the contributor’s parents, if they are registered as dependants with NSSA and were in fact financially dependent on the contributor.

The benefit is either a grant or pension for the spouse and an allowance to cover all the dependent children.

The father of a contributor who died was surprised when he was told that he was only entitled to an allowance for a child of the contributor who was still going to school.

The survivor’s benefit is intended to help the contributor’s dependants, in other words those relative who were financially dependent on the contributor. A spouse is always presumed to be a dependant, even if she may have her own income. Minor children are also presumed to be dependants.

Normally parents would only be considered for the allowance if there is no surviving spouse or children. Even then, they would have to satisfy NSSA that they were dependent on the contributor or pensioner.

“How many times can one receive money from NSSA?” one person asked in a text message.

In terms of the pension scheme it is only possible to receive one benefit. If it is a grant, then it will be a single payment that will not be repeated.

If it is a retirement pension or survivor’s pension then it will be received every month for the rest of the person’s life. If it is a monthly payment for surviving children then this will only be paid until the last child has turned 18 or, if in full-time education, 25.

If it is an invalidity pension, then this will be paid monthly until the person turns 60, when it will be converted to a retirement pension, with the pensioner receiving either the same amount as was paid as an invalidity pension or the applicable retirement pension, whichever is higher.
The following questions were received recently in relation to farm workers.

“My father is 88 years old and worked on a farm as a foreman. Is he able to get benefits from NSSA and how do we do it?” one person asked.
“My father is 73 years old and still working at a farm as a special worker since 2007. Can we make a claim at NSSA?” another person asked.

The answer in both cases is that a claim can certainly be made if the people concerned were contributing to the NSSA pension scheme for at least 12 months. The longer the payment period and higher the insurable earnings the higher the benefit would be.

A minimum 120 months contributions are required for a pension. Contributions for less than that but not less than 12 months entitle one to a lump sum grant.

Pension contributions should not continue after a person turns 65, at which age the retirement benefit can be claimed even if the contributor is still working.

Claims should be made on Form P9/10, which is obtainable from any NSSA office or downloadable from NSSA’s web-site (www.nssa.org.zw.

• Talking Social Security is published weekly by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. There is also a weekly radio programme on social security, PaMhepo neNSSA/Emoyeni le NSSA, at 6.50PM every Thursday on Radio Zimbabwe and Friday on National FM. Readers can e-mail issues they would like dealt with in this column to [email protected] or text them to 0772-307913. Those with individual queries should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706523/5, 706545/9, or 799030/1.