EPFO's Employees’ Enrollment Scheme: Check eligibility, benefits & deadline

Employees’ Enrollment Scheme

The government recently launched an Employees’ Enrollment Scheme (EES) 2025 to extend coverage to eligible employees under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

Labour and employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the voluntary social security scheme on November 1, which will remain open for six months.

“This scheme is a special initiative of the government of India to promote voluntary compliance and extend social security coverage to all eligible employees,” the government said in a release.

Eligibility and deductions under EES 2025

Establishments that fall under the purview of EPFO can voluntarily enrol employees who joined the workforce between July 1, 2017 and October 31, 2025, and were left out from the government-backed retirement scheme.

The window for enrolling employees will remain open for six months till April 30, 2026.

The government has waived employees' share for the period, provided their contribution has not been deducted, while employers are required to pay their share of PF contributions for such period, along with a Rs 100 fee.

The EPFO will not initiate suo motu compliance against employers if employees have already left the establishment.

Benefits of EES 2025

A similar exercise was carried out by the ministry in 2017 for the enrolment of left-out employees from 2009 to 2016 under the EPFO.

Currently, an employee contributes 12 percent of the basic pay in EPF. The employer, too, contributes 12 percent, of which 8.33 percent is diverted to the pension fund and remaining 3.67 percent to EPF. The EPFO adds 8.25 percent interest rate per annum on the overall sum.

Establishments can make the voluntary enrolment of eligible employees through EPFO’s official website. Once the details of eligible employees are registered, the payment of contributions can be made through the Electronic Challan-cum Return (ECR) system, an online mechanism for payments put in place by the EPFO.

EPFO then provides Universal Account Number (UAN) to each employee after successful registration, which can be used to access PF passbook, check PF balance, withdraw funds, etc. It is also helpful to check if there has been any default in payments by the establishment.