Switched jobs? Employer’s approval not required for Provident Fund account transfer now, says Govt

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has simplified the process of transfer of provident fund (PF) accounts on change of jobs.

In a statement on Sunday (January 19, 2025), the Ministry of Labour and Employment said the EPFO has removed the requirement to route online transfer claims through either the previous or current employer in most cases.

“After implementation of this revised procedure, transfer claims will be processed directly by EPFO, speeding up the service for members,” the ministry said.

“It is expected that in future over 1.20 crore out of 1.30 crore total transfer claims i.e. 94% of the total claims would be directly forwarded to EPFO without requiring the employer’s intervention,” it added.

Employer’s approval not required for account transfer

From 1st April 2024 to date, the EPFO received around 1.30 crore transfer claims online, out of which approximately 45 lakh or 34.5% of claims were auto-generated transfer claims.

This simplified process is expected to result in a considerable reduction in the turnaround time for transfer claims.

“It will also greatly reduce the member grievances considerably (presently 17% of the total grievances pertain to transfer-related issues) along with the corresponding rejections,” the ministry said.

“Large employers who have a large workload of approving such cases will have significant improvement in the ease of doing business,” it added.

These reforms will not only streamline processes but also help build greater trust and confidence in EPFO services

A new PF Member ID (MID) is created whenever an an EPF account holder joins a new company. For a smooth PF claims process, employees need to have their amounts from past MIDs transferred to their new MID. While this process is automated now, employees must verify the account transfer by checking the EPF passbooks online.