One will no longer have to apply for transfer of Employee Provident Fund (EPF) claims with the EPFO on change of job from the next financial year as the process will get automated, according to a PTI report citing a senior Labour Ministry official.

Subscribers of EPF at present are required to file for claims with the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to transfer the EPF on changing the jobs despite the introduction of UAN (Universal Account Number). Every year over 8 lakh claims are made for EPF transfer.

According to the report, the automation of the transfer process is still being tested on a pilot basis by the EPFO and should be ready by next year. The EPFO had engaged the C-DAC to study its operating systems in order to go paperless. While 80 percent of its work is done online, the automation of EPF transfer would accelerate the process.

The official explained to PTI that after automation, once a new employer files the monthly EPF return and UAN of the new employee, the EPF contributions and interest earned would be automatically transferred. This will enable the employee to get the credits of his EPF contribution during his previous tenure with old employer into his or her UAN automatically.

At present after changing job, a subscriber provides his UAN to the new employer, who uses it for depositing his or her EPF contributions. But the UAN account does not reflect the EPF contributions made during the subscriber's previous job and interest accrued on that. The subscriber has to file an online claim through the activated UAN to get credits of EPF contributions made during his or her previous job.