The broken promise of Bangladesh’s pension payouts

SM Abu Zubair has dedicated more than 30 years of his life to teaching, having retired as an assistant professor of history at BB School & College, an institute at the rural Bhangura upazila of Pabna district.

Yet today, after retiring on 2 January 2024, he finds himself in a never-ending wait for his pension; he applied for his retirement benefits on 21 April 2024, but no progress has been made yet. 

His health is deteriorating, and the stress of his uncertain financial future is only worsening his condition.

"I am not fully fit anymore. It's very difficult for me to travel all the way to Dhaka just to check on the status of my pension. I went there twice myself, but nothing changed. Then I sent my son, hoping he might be able to do something. But it was the same story," he said.

A month after applying for his pension, Zubair's son SM Tanim Hasan, a final-year student at Jahangirnagar University, went to the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BanBEIS) office — the agency responsible for handling pensions for non-government educational staff. 

"The first time I went there, the officials showed no interest in talking to me. They were rude and dismissive, telling me to come back another day," Tanim recalled.

Determined, he returned the following day. This time, he waited two hours before an officer finally agreed to see him, only to inform him that he was leaving for lunch. "He never returned. Then a clerk later told me the officer had left for the day. It was humiliating."

Frustrated but not willing to give up, Tanim reached out to a senior from his university who had connections in the administration. With that reference, he finally managed to meet the finance officer in-charge, but that conversation left him stunned.

"After Hasina and the last government fled, we are short on cash. We don't have the funds to pay out pensions. We are still processing files from 2021-2022. Your father's file is from 2024 — it will take at least two more years. I would suggest you not to waste your time or money coming here again anytime soon," the officer said. 

Another clerk told Tasnim, "Nobody in Bangladesh gets their retirement amount before three years. So why should your father get special treatment?"

Unfortunately, Abu Zubair's story is among that of thousands of retirees across Bangladesh.

What was meant to be a financial safety net has instead become a bureaucratic nightmare, forcing many elderly citizens to live in uncertainty for years.

An official from BanBEIS, speaking on condition of anonymity, admitted, "There are numerous instances where politically connected individuals or those willing to pay bribes of Tk50,000–60,000 get their pensions processed within 5–6 months."

"The ones who refuse to bribe? Their files are left to gather dust. It actually takes 2–3 years to process. If they pass away in the meantime, their families have to go through another process that delays it even further. This system has been corrupted for decades, and no one has bothered to fix it," he added.

Adding to the inefficiency is the fact that the pension disbursal process is entirely manual. "Everything is analogue, which means that even if we want to speed things up, we can't. Every document has to be verified across multiple desks, and that takes time," the official further said.

While pension delays exist across all sectors, government employees fare (slightly) better. Their pensions are handled by the Office of the Chief Accounts Officer and Fund Management, which oversees the General Provident Fund (GPF).

Abdul Hannan Mia, a retired medical staff, applied for his pension at the Ministry of Health. It took more than a year for his pension to be accepted and released by the ministry.

"I kept going in circles between the health ministry and the Office of the Chief Accounts Officer. The ministry claimed they had cleared and released my file, while the Chief Accounts Office said they never received it. It was exhausting," he recalls.

Md Mamun-Ul-Mannan, Chief Accounts and Finance Officer, explains, "Government retirees must apply 11 months prior to their retirement and submit all necessary documents to their respective ministries. The ministry verifies, approves and processes the first two months of pension payments before transferring the case to us. I believe this is where the delay happens. The verification and approval by the ministry takes most of the time."

He also highlighted recent digitalisation efforts from his department. "We have launched a website and an app where pensioners can track their balance, account details and benefits. They need to register using their NID-linked phone number. Our system is now online and running, and we also have a 24/7 hotline for complaints."

With an annual pension fund disbursement of more than Tk2,500 crore and over 500,000 retirees receiving benefits, digitisation has been a step forward, but challenges still remain.

Dr Mohammad Kamrul Hasan, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration, believes that pension processing should be made easier for retirees. "Government officials are transferred multiple times throughout their careers. When they retire, they have to collect clearances from every previous office. This is incredibly difficult for senior citizens and causes a major delay in their pension approval."

He suggests that ministries should collect these clearances on behalf of retirees to reduce the burden. Additionally, he suggests an online pension application system, which would smoothen tax verification, office clearance and other procedures, significantly shortening processing times of pension disbursement.

According to him, another major issue is accessibility. "Many retirees live in rural areas and cannot afford frequent trips to Dhaka. Regional pension offices would allow them to apply and receive services in their own districts, reducing time, cost, and suffering."

Professor Sharmind Neelormi from Jahangirnagar University's Department of Economics also emphasises that digitalisation is key. "If the entire process were digital, financial records could be accessed instantly, and pension approvals would be much faster," she explained.

She also recommends setting up one-stop service centres. "Elderly people shouldn't have to run from office to office just to check on their application. A single counter where all necessary steps can be completed would simplify the process."