New Delhi: The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has rolled out major changes aimed at simplifying Aadhaar seeding with Universal Account Numbers (UAN) and expediting claim settlements, benefiting millions of subscribers.

According to a circular issued on August 13, if a member’s name, gender, and date of birth exactly match in both Aadhaar and UAN records, their employer can now directly link Aadhaar via the KYC option on the employer portal without separate EPFO approval. This eliminates the earlier multi-step clearance process, cutting down delays.

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For cases where Aadhaar and UAN details do not match, the Joint Declaration (JD) process has been upgraded. Employers can now initiate online corrections for discrepancies in personal details or fix wrongly linked Aadhaar numbers via the JD form. If the employer is unavailable, members may submit a physically signed JD form, attested by an authorised official, to the regional EPFO office for verification.

In another major move, EPFO has removed the guardianship certificate requirement for minors if settlement amounts are credited directly to the child’s bank account. This is expected to streamline settlements in cases involving dependent minors.

EPFO has also sped up overall claim processing. Nearly 50 per cent of claims filed this fiscal year are now settled within three days, thanks to automation. The auto-settlement claim limit has been increased to ₹5 lakh, enabling faster disbursements for purposes such as illness, education, marriage, and housing.

Members can also use the UMANG app to link Aadhaar with UAN by verifying details via OTP on registered mobile numbers.