The government, in collaboration with the Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR), has launched an e-Pension Portal to digitize pension services for government employees and speed up the processing of retirement cases.
The new system aims to make the pension process faster and easier, with the government planning to complete pension cases within days instead of months. Employees and pensioners will also be able to track the progress of their cases online without making repeated visits to government offices.
Under the new system, pension payments can be sent directly to commercial bank accounts, removing the earlier requirement for pensioners to receive payments through designated National Bank branches.
The portal will also send SMS alerts to registered mobile numbers whenever a pension payment is issued or a deduction is made.
Government departments will upload the relevant information of employees approaching retirement to the portal before they retire. This is expected to help reduce delays in processing pension cases after retirement.
The government has also introduced biometric verification as part of the new digital pension system.
Instead of submitting a life certificate at a bank twice a year, pensioners will be able to complete verification every six months through fingerprint authentication at a bank branch or a biometric-enabled ATM.
The government is also working on mobile applications that may eventually allow pensioners to complete the verification process from home using facial or fingerprint authentication through a mobile phone camera.
If a pensioner fails to complete biometric verification within the required period, the pension account may be temporarily blocked. However, the account can be restored once verification is successfully completed.
Before using the e-Pension Portal, employees must have their personal information uploaded by their respective government departments.
The required information includes a Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC), personal number and an active mobile phone number.
Once the information is entered into the system, the employee will receive a unique Pension ID.
The Pension ID can be used to access pension-related services and track the progress of an employee’s retirement case through the online system.
The launch of the e-Pension Portal is part of the government’s broader effort to digitize public services and make pension processing more efficient.
By moving pension-related procedures online, the government expects the system to reduce paperwork, improve transparency and minimize the need for employees and pensioners to make repeated visits to government offices and banks.
Online tracking, SMS alerts, direct bank payments and biometric verification are expected to make pension services faster and more convenient for government employees and retirees across Pakistan.
