PenCom Mandates PFAs to Secure Retirees’ Consent Before Enrolment into PenCare

Ebere Nwoji The National Pension Commission(PenCom), has mandated all licensed Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to ensure they are in agreement with retirees before enrolling them into the PenCare initiative. The commission stated this in a circular published in its official website. The commission in the circular titled, “Obtaining Retirees Consent for Enrolment into the PenCare Initiative During Programmed Withdrawal Retirement Benefit Processing,” said effective from the date of the circular, (Oct 27, 2026),every PFA should obtain the informed consent of eligible retirees who elect Programmed Withdrawal at the time the retiree executed the Programmed Withdrawal Agreement. The PenCare launch by Federal Government recently, is a social welfare initiative by PenCom and pension fund operators to provide free basic primary healthcare service to eligible retirees starting with those with low monthly pension benefit. According to PenCom, eligible retirees must be 60 years old and above , must have chosen programme withdrawal as choice of benefit collection and must have monthly pension benefit amount between N70,000 to N150, 000 . PenCom in the circular signed by the Director of its Surveillance Department, Mr A. M. Saleem, said the objective of the circular is to ensure that PFAs obtain the informed consent of retirees who choose Programmed Withdrawal (PW) for possible enrolment into the PenCare initiative at the point of retirement. Highlighting the benefits, the commission stated, “This process is intended to facilitate timely identification and enrolment of eligible retirees, eliminate delays associated with obtaining consent after retirement benefits have been processed, establish a uniform industry-wide consent process and improve the quality and completeness of enrolment records.”