If You Own a Company Have a Working Staff, Then This Six-Month Special Window Is For You

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has rolled out a one-time “special compliance window” for employers to voluntarily enrol workers who were missed out of Provident Fund coverage in the past eight years. 

This initiative aims to improve social security inclusion, regularise historical lapses, and simplify compliance with the EPF Act. This article explains who is eligible, how the scheme works, and why it matters for employers and employees alike.

The scheme, officially known as the Employees’ Enrolment Scheme 2025 (EES-2025), opens a six-month window beginning 1 November 2025 and running through 30 April 2026. It provides an employer-friendly way to bring previously excluded workers into the EPF net without facing heavy penalties or prolonged legal proceedings.

What is the EPF Coverage Gap & Why Does It Matter?

The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is India’s largest social-security retirement savings scheme, governed by the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. It requires eligible employees in covered establishments to be enrolled so they contribute to, and receive benefits from, the Provident Fund, Pension, and Insurance schemes.

However, many employers failed to enrol eligible employees when they should have, leaving them outside EPF coverage. This has created a coverage gap affecting millions of workers who were legally entitled to benefits but weren’t enrolled due to non-compliance by employers, administrative lapses, or misinterpretation of eligibility.

The EES-2025 wants to plug those gaps by giving employers a limited, simplified opportunity to correct the past, expanding social security coverage and aiming for broader financial inclusion.

Employees’ Enrolment Scheme 2025: Timeline & Eligibility

The EES-2025 is designed to provide a time-bound compliance drive that encourages employers to voluntarily enrol eligible employees left out of EPF coverage. Here are the main elements:

• The special enrolment window runs from 1 November 2025 to 30 April 2026.
• It applies to employees who joined employers between 1 July 2017 and 31 October 2025, and who were never enrolled under EPF despite eligibility.
• Establishments previously not covered under the EPF Act can also opt in and regularise past non-compliance.

This opportunity is significant because employers who missed enrolling workers range from startup units to medium enterprises, and in some cases even larger organisations that misclassified staff or misunderstood EPF applicability.

Eligibility & Key Dates for EES-2025

Below is a clear summary of the EPFO Employees’ Enrolment Scheme – 2025 in tabular form:
 

The table shows how the EES-2025 simplifies compliance: rigid penalties and prolonged litigation are replaced with a capped ₹100 penalty and relaxed regularisation, making it easier for employers to bring workers into the EPF net. This structure hopes to remove barriers to broader social-security coverage.

What Employers Must Do: Regularise Past Non-Compliance

Under the scheme, employers who previously failed to register eligible employees can now declare their details online via the EPFO portal. Once they do this:

• The employer’s share of contributions (12% of wages, generally) must be deposited for the missed period.
• Interest under Section 7Q (for delays in contribution) is payable, but will be simplified.
• A nominal ₹100 penal damage is levied, which is treated as full compliance under all three EPFO schemes.
• If employees’ dues were never deducted, their portion is waived for the historical period.

This presents a significant relief compared to regular action under EPF law, where penalties and interest could previously escalate substantially, and default could lead to prolonged litigation or enforcement notices. The scheme thus aims to pick “low-hanging fruit”, expanding coverage with minimal enforcement friction.

Why This One-Time Window Is Important for Workers?

For employees, inclusion under the EPF system means:

• A growing Retirement Fund Corpus that continues to earn interest even during historical periods.
• Pension benefits via the Employees’ Pension Scheme, which could be substantial over decades.
• Social security protections including insurance cover, disability, and survivor benefits.

Workers who were excluded due to employer non-compliance will gain long-term financial security. In labour markets with high mobility and informal job patterns, this initiative strengthens the safety net for millions of families.

How the Scheme Helps Businesses Too?

The scheme benefits employers as well:

• It offers a flat ₹100 penalty, significantly lower than historical enforcement costs under Section 7A of the EPF Act, which often scaled with dues and interest.
• The employee share waiver for missed deductions reduces cash outflow required for regularisation.
• Employers avoid lengthy legal battles that typically arise from compliance notices issued by the EPFO.
• SMEs and startups previously uncertain about EPF liabilities can now join the system with clarity and predictability.

This alignment of compliance encouragement with economic ease is a policy trend seen across labour codes in India, focusing on formalisation without heavy punitive measures.

Impact on India’s Social Security Landscape

The EES-2025 is expected to increase EPF coverage significantly by bringing previously excluded employees into the formal Provident Fund system. Covering the 2017–2025 period means more workers will enjoy retirement and pension benefits they were legally entitled to but, until now, didn’t have.

Moreover, this move aligns with broader labour policy goals of formalising the workforce, strengthening labour compliance, and extending the safety net across wage sectors that had informality or misclassification in the past decade.

Conclusion

The Employees’ Enrolment Scheme, 2025 represents a rare, one-time opportunity for employers to correct historical lapses in EPF compliance without facing severe penalties or litigation. By limiting penal damages to ₹100 and waiving previously uncaptured employee contributions, the scheme incentives formalisation of employment and stronger social security coverage.

For employees, this translates into increased access to retirement savings and pension benefits, while for employers it provides a clean slate and compliance simplification. The six-month window — from November 2025 to April 2026, is finite, making it critical for businesses to act promptly.

This initiative strengthens India’s broader commitment to “Social Security for All”, a long-standing objective of the Ministry of Labour & Employment and EPFO.
 

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