The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has warned that provident fund claims and other service requests may take up to two weeks longer than usual as it completes post-migration verification following a major database and software upgrade.
EPFO took its servers offline from June 26 to consolidate databases and upgrade its digital infrastructure. The Member and Employer portals, along with the UMANG app, were originally expected to return by July 1, but the rollout slipped due to technical issues before being restored on July 3. EPFO said it will now process claims and service requests in a phased, calibrated manner over the next two weeks, with additional verification and validation checks applied to ensure the accuracy of migrated records.
“As part of the post-migration stabilisation process, claims and service requests will be processed in a phased and calibrated manner with additional verification and validation checks to ensure the accuracy during the initial period of 2 weeks. Members and Employers are requested to kindly bear with us as they may experience a slightly longer-than-usual processing times for claims and certain services during this period,” EPFO said in its advisory.
The organisation has asked over 7 crore subscribers and employers not to log in repeatedly during peak hours or submit duplicate service requests, warning that this could add further system load and slow processing during the stabilisation window. Some subscribers have flagged delays publicly, including one member who asked EPFO on social media to expedite a claim filed around June 25, ahead of the migration.
EPFO clarified that the current delay reflects the transition to its upgraded system and not any change to withdrawal rules. It comes weeks after the government notified faster claim-settlement norms under EPFO 3.0, which mandate that complete claims be settled within three days, and pension or EDLI claims within 20 days, with a 12% penal interest for delays beyond the prescribed timeline once the system stabilises. The EPF e-Passbook service remains unavailable as part of the ongoing phased rollout.
