Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr. John Ofori Tenkorang, says his outfit is proposing an amendment to its Act to increase deductions made from workers’ salary as part of their Pension contributions.

According to him, the current system which only allows those deductions to be made from the basic salaries of workers have led to some people making “all kinds of gymnastics as to what is basic rather than your total remuneration.”

He said the situation where workers receive generous allowances and perks and tiny basic salaries directly contributes to the low pension benefits they receive in their retirement from the SSNIT.

As a result, Dr. Tenkorang said the proposed amendment will seek to collect pension benefits from a worker’s total remuneration rather than just the basic salary.

“The law that we operate under currently, unfortunately says that employers are obligated to pay pensions on basic salary, and so that gives room for people to make all kinds of gymnastics as to what is basic rather than your total remuneration. And I think that is something that has to change.

“And we at SSNIT are working on possible amendments to our Act which we will table before our Board, NPRA, the Tripartite and eventually it will make its way to Parliament and those things can be changed,” he said.