GEPF pensioners to receive a 6% increase from 1 April

The Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) pensioners will get a 6% increase effective 1 April.

The GEPF confirmed this on Monday, 18 March.

GEPF CONFIRMS 6% INCREASE FOR PENSIONERS

In a statement, GEPF said pensioners who retired before 1 April 2023 will receive a 6% increase.

On the other hand, pensioners who retired after 1 April 2023 will get a proportionate increase based on the months they have received pension by 31 March 2024.

“This pension increase is based on the 5.5% inflation rate for the 12 months ending 30 November 2023. Thus, the 6% increase equals 109.1% of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in terms of the GEP Law and Rules,” the government entity said.

GOVERNMENT PENSION FUND SYSTEM HACKED

Earlier this month, GEPF confirmed the release of data purportedly from its administrator, the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA), by the ransomware group LockBit.

The GEPF said it was highly concerned with this alleged security breach.

Fortunately, no data breach occurred when the government entity was notified of an attempt by unknown individuals to gain access to GPAA systems on 16 February.

The GPAA subsequently established that this was an attempt by the ransomware group LockBit.

LockBit then released certain GPAA data on 11 March. Preliminary investigations found that specific GPAA systems were compromised.

“The GPAA is investigating the alleged data breach and whether this impacts the GEPF.

“GPAA has reconfirmed that preventative action was taken when it became aware of the attempted access to its systems, which included ‘shutting down’ all systems to isolate affected areas. GPAA further confirmed that pension payments are not affected,” GEPF said.

Furthermore, the GEPF said it was engaging with the GPAA and its oversight authority, the National Treasury, to establish the integrity and impact of the reported data breach. It will provide further updates in due course.

SA SUFFERS BIGGEST DATA BREACH

In 2020, nearly half of South Africa’s population were affected by one of the largest data breaches after Experian SA was “duped by a sophisticated scam operation” posing as a client unable to access their information.

The credit agency confirmed that none of the data has been used for fraudulent purposes before being deleted and that the data breach did not compromise Experian’s infrastructure, systems, or customer database.