GPSSA announces ground-breaking amendments to the Shourak program
•Insured Emiratis are allowed to submit merge requests within three months, instead of the previously announced one month, from the date they join a new entity
•The decision includes merge requests submitted to the GPSSA since the system was implemented on 1st July 2023, retroactively
Abu Dhabi, 24th October 2023: As part of the “End it right” campaign launched by the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA), insured individuals have been offered more flexible features when switching jobs, as per recently amended conditions in the Shourak program.
Shourak’s main aim is to improve the quality of life of insured individuals while achieving financial stability for them and their families, since it allows insured Emiratis to merge service years without having to incur an additional cost, while completing the eligible pension period, which is considered the most important goal in participating in an insurance scheme.
The amendments to the Shourak program apply to requests submitted to the GPSSA after 1st July 2023 retroactively, since some applications submitted during that period of time have exceeded the one-month time span and were rejected accordingly.
In order to ensure requests are valid and that end-of-service gratuities are not paid to insured individuals in the process, the insured must submit a request to his/her entity by the end of the service period and sign an agreement declaration to “not” be paid the end-of-service gratuity, as well as join a new employer within “six months” from the end-of-service period. A request to merge the service within “three months” from joining the new entity must be submitted; the amendment applies retroactively to those whose service period has ended after 1st July 2023.
It is crucial that the insured is “not” indebted to the government for any reason related to professional performance and to recover what was unjustly paid.
Additionally, Shourak does not apply to previous employment years that ended prior to 1st July 2023, but rather includes service periods that ended after that date. The program caters to insured individuals who wish to move from one employer to another under the GPSSA’s umbrella, whether the entities are federal, government or private, while it does not apply to those whose service periods have ended with an entity subject to other UAE-based pension authorities.
Pensioners or individuals who meet the pension entitlement criteria’s are not included in the Shourak program, nor are those who have worked for a period less than one year, since insured individuals are not entitled to receiving an end-of-service gratuity if they have spent less than one year in an entity.
Insured individuals are not permitted to request for an end-of-service gratuity for their previous employment years once they have undergone the Shourak procedures.
