Page 66 - KDU Law Journal Volume 4 Issue 2

KDU Law Journal Volume 04 Issue II
September, 2024
present labour market, including other needs as enshrined in several
legal instruments, the social security protection scheme functions as
a motivational means for all employees irrespective of the job nature.

Challenges and Way Forward
The contribution-based social security protection approach aims to
create a sustainable system by tying entitlements to one’s financial
input. Because of various reasons, SSF is facing several challenges on
contributions, such as ensuring consistent funding from contributors,
issues of compliance and enforcement, competent human resources on
digitalization of indexing to changing demographics of workers and
managing economic fluctuations that impact contributions and payouts.
Above all, government instability and regulatory uncertainties are also
challenging the effectiveness of administration and sustainability of
contribution-based social security systems.

Besides these fundamental challenges, there are certain legal issues
in the legislation that are unable to be properly addressed. Section 13
of the Act affirmed for not getting double social security benefits.
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However, lacking a proper national digitalization system of the social
security system, it is not effectuated as of its mission. The root cause
is that it does not have a central database indexing system. Also,
Section 14(3) has opened the door to adopting a ‘unified system’
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for those who are already associated with the Employment Provident
Fund (EPF) (Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh) or the Citizens’ Investment
Fund (Nagarik Lagani Kosh), but, with the fragmented laws of social
security schemes, neither the policy nor the mechanism has been
initiated yet.

In the same way, the facilities can be availed after the continuous
contribution of funds to SSF for three Months and cover up to 3
Months after discontinuation of the contribution. In this context, the
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48 Section 13 of the Social Security Act, 2018
49 Ibid Section 14(3)
50 Section 4(1) of the Social Security Scheme Operating Procedure, 2018 (2075)
law.faculty@kdu.ac.lk
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