The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) has informed its members and stakeholders the Fund has amended the funeral claim submission procedure. GIPF will now accept completed funeral claims submitted electronically via email. 

The Fund provides funeral benefits to members and qualifying dependents, which can be classified in the following categories: funeral benefits for active members, members on disability, retired members and qualifying spouses and dependents of active members. 

“Funeral benefits are paid upon submission of a completed funeral claim form, accompanied by required certified supporting documents, such as the death certificate, identity document of the deceased member and claimant, marriage certificate (if married) and proof of banking particulars of the claimant. If the deceased was not married (single member), declarations of oath from two independent family members stating their relationship to the deceased and at the same time giving permission to a claimant to claim the funeral benefit,” explained Hilkka Mbako, GIPF’s manager: client services. 

“Funeral claims submitted electronically would be acknowledged and processed in the shortest time possible, thereby eliminating the need for the claimant to come physically to the GIPF office. These claims can either be submitted by a human resource practitioner from a GIPF participating employer or the applicable claimant. Additionally, GIPF requests each claimant to kindly submit the funeral claim with original certified supporting documents within a period of 10 working days,” added Mbako.