News Alert - 2nd mailing of the 2012 CEs
Each person in receipt of a benefit from the Fund must annually sign and complete a Certificate of Entitlement (CE). The Fund uses the CE to verify the continuing eligibility of retirees and beneficiaries to the benefits they are receiving. The CE with the retiree's/beneficiary's original signature/thumbprint must be returned to the Fund as soon as possible and no later than by 31 May 2013 to avoid the risk of a benefit suspension. The CE can be returned to either our Geneva or New York offices.
The Fund sent out the first 2012 CE mailing on 25 October 2012. Approximately 53,000 CEs were sent out, either via the US Postal Service or the UN Diplomatic Pouch Service. A large majority of retirees and beneficiaries returned their completed CE form by mid-February 2013. On 26 February 2013 the Fund dispatched a second mailing of bar-coded 2012 CEs to all those retirees and beneficiaries for whom the Fund's CE tracker did not record a returned CE; 5,852 CEs were dispatched with this second mailing. If you have not already done so, we encourage you to urgently complete and return to the Fund the 2012 CE.
What is the final deadline to submit the duly signed and completed 2012 CE?
Due to the delays caused by Hurricane Sandy for the dispatching of the 1st 2012 CE Mailing, the Fund extended the deadline allowed for the return of CEs. It is extremely important that beneficiaries sign and complete the bar-coded 2012 CE and return it to the UNJSPF. If no duly completed 2012 CE has reached the Fund by 31 May 2013, the subsequent benefit payment may be suspended. In that case, your benefit would be reinstated retroactively upon receipt by the Fund of the necessary and duly completed documentation.
What should you do in case you did not receive the October 2012 or February 2013 mailing of the 2012 CE?
Should you NOT have received the 2012 CE by the end of March 2013, you may consider sending a letter to the Fund, carrying your names, your official address, your retirement number(s), the date and your ORIGINAL signature. Such letter would be scanned to your file to alert the Fund of the situation and to allow the Fund to take action to prevent a potential future suspension in case of non-receipt of your CE by end of May 2013. However, to fulfill audit requirements, the Fund still requires that you return the duly signed and completed bar-coded 2012 CE before end of May 2013; therefore, an according follow-up would be done by the Fund for cases where the Fund receives such letters.
One of the main reasons some retirees and beneficiaries do not receive their annual CE is that they omitted to inform the Fund of changes in their official mailing address. If you permanently change your official mailing address, you must inform the Fund in writing by completing and returning to the Fund the duly completed form PF23/M which must carry your names, your new official address, your retirement number(s), the date and your ORIGINAL signature; you can download the form here: http://www.unjspf.org/UNJSPF_Web/page.jsp?role=bene&page=Forms&lang=eng. Or, in case you cannot download form PF23/m from our website, you must send us a letter with your names, your retirement number(s), your new official address, the date and your official ORIGINAL signature. The Fund will implement a change in mailing address only upon receipt of the ORIGINAL form PF23/M or letter; we do not accept to make changes based on emails or faxes.
If you are a new beneficiary in receipt of a benefit for less than six months at the time of the October 2012 CE mailing, you will NOT receive a 2012 CE; you will start receiving CEs only as of the 2013 CE exercise which will begin at the very end of October 2013.
How can you check that your "bar-coded" 2012 CE has been received by the Fund?
All CEs included in the first or second 2012 CE mailings are overprinted with the relevant information (first and family names, retirement number, sending out date, benefit type, etc.) and are bar-coded to facilitate their tracking by the Fund. Please be aware, only the original bar-coded CEs can be tracked (NOT copies).
Since January 2005, the Fund has made available to all beneficiaries of the Fund a tracking feature that can be accessed through this website (link here). This system enables beneficiaries to find out whether their bar-coded CE was received by the Fund. Access to this feature requires you to register as a retiree/beneficiary through our website, so that a Personal Identification Number (PIN) can be mailed to your home address. It is easy and effective. The Fund encourages you to use this feature; however, due to the huge volume involved, we would ask you to be patient and allow at least 4 weeks from the time you mailed the 2012 CE to the Fund, before checking the online CE tracker. We assure you that the Fund is doing its utmost to open, batch and scan the returned bar-coded CEs as quickly as possible so that the online CE tracker is updated within the shortest delay.
For your convenience and practical guidance, you may also wish to refer to the interactive CE guide, available on this website (link here).
Your cooperation in this important exercise is greatly appreciated. |
