GEPF Announces Key Changes to Pension Calculations & Withdrawal Suspension!
The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) has announced important updates regarding the actuarial interest factors used to calculate member benefits. These changes, effective from 1 October 2025, will impact how future pensions are expressed as present-day lump sums.
According to a statement from the GEPF, the updated actuarial interest factors are derived from the fund's statutory actuarial valuation as of 31 March 2024. This implementation follows a consultative process with employee organisations completed by 31 July 2025, adhering to the GEP Law and Rules.
What's Changing?
The revised factors result in actuarial interest values that are, on average, 15% lower than those calculated using the 2021 factors. The precise impact on individual members will vary based on their age and membership category (service or non-service).
Crucially, these revised factors will be applied across all active member records, recalculating balances in all components. Exit benefits (excluding retirements) for members with less than 10 years of pensionable service, as well as all resignations regardless of service length, will be affected.
Important Note: Pensioners' existing benefits will *not* be affected by these changes.
Two-Pot Withdrawal Suspension
Adding to the changes, the GEPF has temporarily suspended two-pot retirement withdrawal applications from today until 21 October. This pause is crucial for the Fund to update its systems with the recently implemented actuarial factors used to calculate members' benefits.
During this period, members will be unable to submit new savings withdrawal requests via self-service platforms. However, all other benefit payments and services will continue as normal.
The Fund anticipates reinstating the savings withdrawal functionality on 22 October, following the successful completion of the system updates.
Key Takeaways:
- Actuarial interest factors revised effective 1 October 2025.
- Average 15% decrease in actuarial interest values compared to 2021 factors.
- Impact varies based on age and membership category.
- Two-pot withdrawals suspended until 21 October for system updates.
- Savings withdrawal functionality resumes 22 October.