Registration of Freelance Professionals Begins

The professions being registered include fishermen, traders, doctors, accountants and independent lawyers.

The registration will be open for one month at the offices of the Ministry of Social Welfare across the country.

“Our arrangements were in place and a number of people submitted their applications for registration,” Modhafar Al Haj, director-general of the authority, told Khaleej Times.

“The move aims at counting the number of nationals holding such posts, and similar other freelance jobs, to be covered by insurance the authority is providing to the citizens,” he said.

Extending the insurance protection scheme to these categories was delayed due to the difficulty in counting the number of these professionals, he said.

Al Haj added that the study on the scheme will come to an end during the first quarter of next year, after which the rule will be approved and enforced.

Earlier, talking to the local press at the headquarters of the Social Welfare and Pensions Authority in Abu Dhabi, Al Haj had said that the authority is considering setting up strategic partnerships with a number of ministries and federal government departments, including the Emirates Identity Authority, the Ministry of Health and the Human Resources Development Authority, to exchange information and potentialities that will reflect positively on the work of the authority.

The action is seen as necessary to provide integrated database of the authority within two years.

Al Haj disclosed the authority’s to consider the number of ID instead of the insurance number, and which will be used in all the dealings in the future.

Meanwhile, an extensive media campaign will be launched to promote awareness among retirees, pensioners, and the beneficiaries to submit the annual acknowledgement the authority had set as condition.

“The authority has discovered that many beneficiaries do not inform in case their social status is changed, on the basis of which they are paid the retirement pension,” said Sawsan Al Zaabi, head of Welfare Services Section in the authority.

She said, “The campaign aims at eliminating manipulation and illegal acts to get the pension.”

The authority had demanded and restored funds being paid as retirement pensions to some Emiratis, and it appeared later that those were ineligible, she added. — adel@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE