The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has identified PF claim processing delays, rejected claims, KYC changes, inactive EPF accounts and unclaimed balances as key areas for internal audit of its regional offices during 2026-27. According to reports from EPFO, the audit will specifically examine issues that affect EPF members, including delays in settlement of provident fund claims, reasons for claim rejection, unreconciled credits and balances lying in inactive accounts.
EPFO has directed audit teams to examine 'the average time taken for passing of various types of claims by each office and the percentage of rejected claims' along with the reasons for rejection and whether members were correctly informed about the reasons. As reported by EPFO, the audit will cover high-value PF claims of ₹5 lakh or more, delayed credit of settled claims into bank accounts, unclaimed balances, offline claim settlements, and transfer-related issues where PF amounts are not credited to members. Under Paragraph 60 of the EPF Scheme, 1952, interest is calculated on the monthly running balance, even if it is credited later, ensuring subscribers do not lose any interest due to delays in EPF interest credit.
The audit will cover member profile corrections and KYC updates, including changes in name, date of birth, father/spouse details, gender, Aadhaar and bank account details. According to EPFO, audit teams will verify cases involving changes made by employers, employees or other persons to ensure the genuineness of such requests. The audit circular also refers to earlier EPFO measures aimed at making claim processing easier for members.
The audit will include verification of pension-related matters, including higher pension cases, pension disbursement issues and cases where pension may have been paid incorrectly. As reported by EPFO, the audit teams will verify the genuineness of such requests to ensure proper processing of pension-related claims. The audit division has issued a circular listing these areas that Internal Audit Parties (IAPs) will examine while reviewing the functioning of regional offices.
EPFO members were expected to receive 8.25% interest on their EPF contributions for FY 2025-26 on July 15, 2026. Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya recently confirmed that the EPFO would process interest for about 34 crore member accounts, with many subscribers able to see their updated PF balance by July 15. The Finance Ministry has also approved the 8.25% EPF interest rate for FY 2025-26, ensuring timely credit of interest earnings to member accounts.
