Social Security Fund Collects Rs 95.44 Billion in Six Years

24th November 2025, Kathmandu

Nepal’s Social Security Fund (SSF) has marked a significant milestone, reporting a total contribution collection of Rs 95.44 billion over six years since its establishment.

SSF Collects 95.44 Billion

This achievement reflects the expanding reach and increasing institutionalization of the contribution-based social security system in Nepal, which aims to provide comprehensive financial protection to the country’s workforce.

Contribution and Coverage Expansion

The Fund’s cumulative collections demonstrate growing compliance and expansion across various sectors of the economy, solidifying its role as a crucial pillar of social protection.

Total Collection: The SSF has amassed Rs 95.44 billion in contributions, a figure that underscores the scale of the financial reserves being built to support future liabilities.

Contributor Base: This massive fund has been built from contributions by over 2.64 million contributors.

Enterprise Participation: The SSF’s growing network includes 22,309 registered enterprises across the country, signifying broad participation from the formal sector.

Inclusion of Migrant Workers: A major policy enhancement is the mandatory participation of foreign migrant workers in the contribution-based social security system. This crucial change is designed to enhance benefit sustainability and significantly widen coverage among Nepali workers who form a massive part of the nation’s labor force abroad. Migrant workers are generally required to contribute to the fund before taking up foreign employment, ensuring they secure basic social security and pension rights for their future upon returning home.

Claims Settlement and Financial Commitments

Alongside its growing contributions, the SSF is actively meeting its obligations by settling claims under its various welfare schemes, with retirement benefits forming the largest portion of the payouts.

Total Claims Settled: The Fund has settled claims totaling Rs 17.64 billion to date, showing its operational efficacy in disbursing benefits to contributors and their families during times of need.

Retirement Claims: The largest portion of the settled amount, more than Rs 14.6 billion, has been disbursed for retirement claims. This category primarily includes benefits paid out under the Old Age Protection Scheme, which offers both pension and retirement fund options. For instance, the pension amount is calculated by dividing the total accumulated balance in the Pension Fund (contributions plus returns) by 160, providing a lifelong monthly income to eligible contributors over the age of 60.

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Medical and Health Benefits: Claims worth Rs 2.51 billion were settled for medical treatment, health, and maternity coverage. This scheme provides essential support for hospitalization and other health-related expenses, covering up to a certain limit per annum for in-patient and out-patient services.

Accident and Disability Claims: An amount of Rs 228.6 million was disbursed for claims under the accidents and disabilities protection scheme, offering financial assistance for both employment-related and non-work-related incidents.

Dependent Family Security: The Fund settled Rs 290.7 million under the dependent family security scheme. This scheme provides support to the contributor’s spouse, children, and dependent parents in the event of the contributor’s death, offering pension benefits and educational support.

The rising volume of payouts, particularly under the old-age category, highlights the SSF’s transition into a core component of Nepal’s social protection framework.

Investment and Future Sustainability

The substantial reserve fund built up by the SSF places significant focus on its investment strategies to ensure long-term financial stability and sustain the increasing liability, particularly the pension obligations.

Fund Mobilization: The collected contributions are segregated into various sub-funds, including the Medical, Health and Maternity Protection Fund, Accident and Disability Protection Fund, Dependent Family Protection Fund, and the Old Age Protection Fund (which is further divided into Retirement and Pension Funds).

Investment Avenues: The SSF is mandated to invest these funds to generate returns. Its investment guidelines permit placing funds in secure avenues such as government bonds and treasury bills, fixed deposits in Class ‘A’ and infrastructure development banks, and limited investment in the shares of banks, financial institutions, infrastructure development, and manufacturing sectors. The prudent management of this over Rs 95 billion capital is crucial to ensure that the Fund remains solvent and capable of fulfilling its long-term pension commitments, which can span decades.

Contribution Rate: The core contribution mechanism for formal sector employees involves a total of 31 percent of the contributor’s basic salary: 11 percent is contributed by the employee (10 percent for Provident Fund/Pension and 1 percent for Social Security Tax) and 20 percent is contributed by the employer (10 percent for Provident Fund/Pension, 8.33 percent for Gratuity, and 1.67 percent for additional contribution).

This milestone—Rs 95.44 billion collected and Rs 17.64 billion settled—not only affirms the SSF’s increasing role in strengthening financial security and social protection for the country’s workforce but also underscores the necessity for strong, diversified investment strategies to guarantee the scheme’s long-term sustainability and the integrity of the retirement benefits promised to millions of Nepalis.

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