A Dissertation Submitted to Mzumbe University, Dar Es Salaam Business School in
Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for Award of the Degree of Masters of
Science in Accounting and Finance (MSc A&F) of Mzumbe University.
Pension’s payments to retirees have been and continue to be a big problem in Tanzania
which requires immediate attention. Most of old age people who served in the
public/private sector are dependent on the terminal benefits as their major source of
income after retirement. The general objective of this study was to find out factors
causing delay in terminal benefit payments in social security in Tanzania. The terminal
benefits for the retirees in Tanzania are managed by five different Pension Funds which
are Public Service Pension Funds (PSPF), Local Authorities Pension Fund (LAPF),
Government Employees Provident Fund (GEPF), National Social Security Fund (NSSF)
and Parastatal Pension Fund (PPF). These Pension Funds are responsible for the
payment of pensions, gratuities, and other benefits in respect of the service of retirees.
The research was conducted to three pensions Funds; PSPF, LAPF and GEPF to
determine the problems in processing Terminal Benefits of retirees. The research study
opted case study strategy whereby terminal benefits were taken as case to be studied in
the selected Social Security Funds in Tanzania. The researcher selected a total of 80
respondents among members and Officers from Pensions Funds as a sample size.
Both primary and secondary data were collected by using questionnaire and interviews.
During the study one of the challenges observed was that some of the retirees were not
paid their terminal benefits on time due to non submission of correct contributions to the
Fund during the period of their service, non compliance with Pensions Fund policies etc.
It was concluded that, there are problems which need to be addressed by both the
employers as well as Social Security Funds in the country. Likewise it was
recommended that there was a need of reviewing the processing of terminal benefits of
retirees as well as harmonisation of pension schemes and improving the legal framework
of social security funds and distorted benefit