The Hon. Mahinda Jayasinghe - Deputy Minister of Labour
The Deputy Minister of Labour stated that EPF members with 10 years of active service may obtain a second 30% advance after the first, and that 744 applications were received between 31 July and 5 December 2025, with 702 paid and 42 under processing. He said complaints can be submitted to the Department of Labour by letter, through its online Complaint Management System, or via the Ministry WhatsApp number, and noted that documentation requirements for eligible purposes under the Act may be reduced in forthcoming amendments. He also said discussions have begun at the National Labour Advisory Council to amend the EPF Act and that Digital EPF software has been launched as part of departmental digitalization.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I answer on behalf of the Minister of Labour.
¶ 02 (a) (i) Yes. (ii) Yes. (iii) No.
¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, by way of clarification: after obtaining the first 30% advance, members who have completed 10 years of active service are eligible for a second 30% advance. Accordingly, from 31.07.2025 to 05.12.2025, the Department of Labour received 744 applications for the second 30% benefit. Since 31.07.2025 we processed second 30% withdrawals for those who took the first 30% before 31.07.2015. Of these, 702 have already been paid; the remaining 42 are being processed.
¶ 04 If any applicants face difficulties, they may submit complaints via a letter to the Department of Labour or online through the Department’s Complaint Management System. In addition, a Ministry WhatsApp number 070-7227877 is available for complaints, enabling special attention to be given.
¶ 05 Regarding documentary requirements: the 30% advance is available only for specific purposes listed in the Act, and applicants must submit documents to establish eligibility. We recognise concerns, and during forthcoming amendments to the Act we will consider minimizing such documentation burdens.
¶ 06 (b) Discussions have commenced at the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) to amend the EPF Act to current needs. Foundational work to digitalize the Department has begun. We launched the Digital EPF software on the 29th, marking the start. We expect to deliver more convenient and efficient services to EPF members.
¶ 07 (c) Does not arise.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Tuesday, 6 January 2026 ·No. 23111 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/17502
Cite as: The Hon. Mahinda Jayasinghe - Deputy Minister of Labour. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 6 January 2026. No. 23111. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/17502