Overview of the Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme
As part of the effort of the Board of Trustees of the Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme (HSOPS) to ensure that contributors of the scheme are well informed, HSOPS undertakes periodic sensitization workshops and educational trips which includes question-and-answer sessions that addresses specific individual concerns.
On the 6th of September, 2019, the Board Chairman of the scheme, Dr. Amoateng, honored an invitation to be part of a panel to make a presentation on the topic, “Overview of Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme” at a symposium organized by the Health Sector Workers Union (HSWU) at The Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT at OSU.
This was the main event of a week-long celebration program which took place from the 4th to the 10th of September 2019 with the theme,” Organizing for Better Pensions from 2020 and Beyond, a Time to Make a Difference”.
The Board Chairman, Dr. Amoateng, began by providing some important information about the scheme. He said, “The Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme is a pension scheme set up to manage the tier 2 pension contributions of all public sector health workers in the country”. He explained that, the tier-2 pension scheme for the public sector health workers is a defined contribution scheme, meaning, the total pension benefit a contributor is entitled to is equal to the contributor’s total contribution plus the interest accrued on that contribution. He made it clear that, all public sector health workers are mandated under the Pension Act (Act 766, 2008) to contribute 5 per centum of their monthly basic salary to Health Sector Occupational Pension Scheme towards their pensions. Dr. Amoateng also answered concerns raised by some of the members present as to who the service providers of the scheme were and how IGF staff can enroll unto the scheme. He explained that Enterprise Trustees is the scheme’s administrator, Cal Bank the scheme custodian whiles Delta Capital and Frontline Advisors are the scheme’s fund managers. With respect to how IGF staff can enroll on the scheme, he mentioned that a Facility Engagement form and Contributor’s Enrollment forms must be filled out by the facility and its members respectively. A welcome pack would be sent to the facility to confirm successful registration as well as provide directions on how payment of contributions can be done. Further details can be obtained from the HSOPS website- www.hsopsghana.com.
Dr. Amoateng in his concluding remarks encouraged the HSWU members present to make use of the HSOPS website as contributors can track their contribution when they visit the Stable Platform. He also mentioned that they could as well walk into any Enterprise office for assistance when need be.
