Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2023-10-30

Placement of Social Security Schemes in Sri Lanka under a Formal Organizational Structure

- According to the Reports of Census and Statistics, it is visible that out of a total of 8.1 million employed workers in Sri Lanka about 1.2 million are employed in the public sector whereas 3.4 million people in the private sector and 58.4% of the total workforce is employed in the informal sector. However, social security schemes such as the Employees' Provident Fund and the Employees' Trust Fund cover less than 2.5 million workers. In addition, various social security schemes such as Farmer Insurance and Fisheries Insurance are implemented by various Government institutions for the informal sector, and the cost that may incur for the purpose is borne by the Government. Since, the effectiveness and efficiency of these social security systems have been challenged due to the difficulties caused by the implementation of social security schemes by different institutions under different methodologies and the cost burden should be borne by the Government or the Employer and it has been found the appropriateness of operating all social security schemes under single institution. Taking into account the proposal made by the Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment, it was decided to grant the approval of the Cabinet to appoint a committee representing all relevant parties to submit recommendations to introduce a mechanism , in order to introduce a system that will enable all the social security schemes currently in operation to be implemented under single institution also studying the international experiences in this regard.