Question:
My husband changed employment on 1 April 2013. Provident fund benefits as at 2013/03/31 were to be transferred from his previous employer to the new employer's provident fund. It has to date not been done yet. What is the maximum period of time allowed by law for a provident fund balance to be transferred from a previous employer to the new employer's fund?
Answer:
Tanya,
By law, a S14 fund transfer (ie an entire fund, not just one individual) should be concluded within 8 months. An individual transferring from one fund to another also falls under s14, so it should at the very least be done within the same time frame (usually, it happens much faster). The law is however not very effective in enforcing this, and to a large extent you have to rely on the previous fund's Board of Trustees to monitor this. You should lodge a complaint, using the formal complaints procedure set down by the (old) Fund's administrators.
