Here at Social Security, we are taking the opportunity to share with you three important things you can do now to help secure your short- and long-term benefits and solidify your relationship with us from the start of the year.
1: Life Certificates; (for beneficiaries in receipt of long-term pensions). A Life Certificate is a signed notarized statement that lets us know you are alive and still eligible to receive your pension. It is important to submit your Life Certificates on time to avoid any delay in your receipt of benefits. For beneficiaries who reside overseas, Life Certificates can be submitted at any time whether monthly, bi-annually or yearly. You determine how often you wish to submit a Life Certificate, noting that you will only be paid when the same is submitted. This certificate MUST be stamped and signed by a Notary Public.
Need to fill a Life Certificate Form? Click Here for instant access.
When submitting your Life Certificate locally, you may visit our offices for in house completion or choose a Notary Public, Justice of the Peace, Manager of a Bank, Medical Practitioner, Attorney-at-law, Senior Police Officer, or a Minister of Religion.
2: Contribution Payments; Always check to make sure that your contributions were paid by your Employer. Too often, we come across cases where a claim was submitted for Sickness Benefit, Maternity Benefit, Funeral Grant or even Age Pension, only to find out that no Social Security contributions were made on your behalf, therefore causing lengthy delays before settlement.
The beginning of the year is an excellent time for you to visit any of our offices and make sure that payments on your behalf were paid to Social Security, and in the right amounts.
3: Update of Information; Have you done a spot check to ensure that your records are up to date? For example, employers and employees are required to submit accurate information to Social Security: such as your correct name, present address, occupation, exact wages, contact numbers and things of that nature. If you have had any changes in the areas mentioned, it is extremely important for you to update your information with us.
Update your information, by completing our Insured Person Status Update Form, and submit to your nearest Social Security office.
We have just outlined three (3) easy to do measures that will help keep you on track as insured persons for the New Year and avoid difficult situations in the future.
Together, let us start the year off right, which means we’ll see you soon at Social Security!
