Two EPFO windows deserve a place in your payroll review

VISHWAS 2026 took effect on 29 June 2026, according to the Labour Ministry's notification summary. It offers reduced damages for eligible PF defaults before 14 June 2024. Separately, the Employees' Enrolment Campaign, or EEC, runs from 1 July to 31 October 2026 for eligible employees omitted during 1 April 2009–31 March 2026.

Match the problem to the scheme

Under EEC, the employee share is waived only where it was not deducted from wages. Employer contributions, applicable interest and administrative charges remain payable, alongside ₹100 lump-sum damages. The eligible employee must be alive and still engaged by the establishment when declared.

VISHWAS addresses specified damages cases, including pending litigation and cases before final assessment. Full statutory interest must be paid before applying; settlement requires an undertaking against further appeal. Fully recovered damages and fraud, misappropriation or deliberately falsified records are excluded.

What this means for your hospital

The following is Lifeline's management analysis. Begin with a reconciliation, not an estimated saving. Ask HR and finance to compare the employee register, payroll deductions, PF filings and bank payments for the periods under review. List unresolved differences with the relevant establishment code, employee, month, amount and supporting record.

Keep different errors visible. A missing enrolment, an incorrect wage entry and a contribution deducted but not remitted are different problems. Avoid putting them into one spreadsheet column labelled “PF shortfall”. Have the hospital's statutory adviser decide which route, if any, applies to each item. Do not infer an employee's legal classification merely from the job title or the word “consultant” on a contract.

Calculate the cash requirement before signing. Build a schedule separating contributions, interest, charges, damages already paid and the proposed settlement. Check it against the relevant records and portal calculation. A concessional damages figure says little about the total money needed to close a case. Finance needs an approved funding plan and a named person who will confirm that payment has been credited.

Bring the right adviser into an existing dispute. Where proceedings are pending, give the lawyer handling the matter the assessment, payment history and proposed application. Management should understand the effect of a settlement on that particular dispute before authorising the declaration. Record the decision and retain its basis with the file.

Prepare the submission while resolving the figures. Check authorised signatories and access to employment records early. For outsourced staff, obtain the relevant contractor records and clarify each party's responsibility. Keep departed employees on a separate review list so that an ineligible campaign item does not disappear from the hospital's wider compliance work.

After submission, reconcile the acknowledgement, payment and eventual disposition. Feed the underlying error into the monthly payroll control. The most useful outcome is a resolved historical issue and a process that catches the same error before it recurs. This complements the wider hospital labour-code review.