Ghana’s pension regulator is finalising an arrangement that would automatically enrol informal sector workers onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) the moment they join a new micro-pension plan currently awaiting government approval, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has disclosed.
Emmanuel Dagbanu, Director of the Informal Sector at NPRA, made the revelation at the launch of “Retiring Richly: How Not to Retire Poor,” a retirement planning book authored by Yaw Korankye Antwi, in Accra. He confirmed that the NPRA is finalising a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to operationalise the automatic enrolment. “All the informal sector workers that join the scheme will automatically enrol onto the National Health Insurance,” Dagbanu stated.
The dual-benefit structure represents the most significant design departure from existing informal pension arrangements in Ghana and could prove to be the scheme’s strongest recruitment tool. Health insurance access has consistently ranked among the top incentives capable of drawing informal sector workers into formal savings and social protection systems, and bundling it directly with pension enrolment removes a key barrier to entry that has kept participation low despite years of awareness campaigns.
The micro-pension scheme, to be managed by licensed trustees under the voluntary Third Tier personal pension framework established by the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766) as amended by Act 883 in 2014, is currently awaiting formal regulatory approval. Dagbanu expressed confidence that approval would come within months, after which the scheme would be officially launched and rolled out nationally.
The plan is designed to move decisively away from what Dagbanu described as a “one-jacket-fits-all” approach that has made the existing pension architecture inaccessible to the 80 percent of Ghana’s workforce operating in the informal economy. Contribution schedules will be tailored by trade and vocation, allowing artisans, farmers, fishermen, traders, and transport operators to contribute daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or seasonally, depending on the rhythm of their income. “We cannot treat a cocoa farmer like a fisherman. We cannot treat a fisherman just like a hairdresser or a taxi driver, because their source of income and the frequency of their income differs,” he explained.
Beyond flexible contributions, Dagbanu disclosed that the NPRA is also advocating for a government matching contribution mechanism that would mirror the tax incentives currently available to formal sector employees. Under Act 766, formal sector workers enjoy up to 35 percent of their salary tax-free for pension contributions. Dagbanu proposed that government respond to each informal sector contribution with a matching percentage through the NPRA, effectively subsidising saving for workers with irregular incomes. “We are saying to government: can we have a system whereby when an informal sector worker pays a contribution, government through the NPRA will match it with a percentage of that contribution?” he stated.
The technological infrastructure designed to support the scheme is equally ambitious. The NPRA is developing a centralised digital pension ecosystem anchored on the Ghana Card as a unique identifier, enabling contributors to make payments and monitor their statements remotely. For workers without smartphones or bank accounts, the system is being designed to function through mobile money vendor networks using only an identification number, removing the need for physical branch visits or internet access. “They can be in the comfort of their home, contribute whatever they want and can even monitor their statements online,” Dagbanu said.
The disclosures came alongside the launch of Antwi’s book, which draws on a 2013 documentary he produced for the NPRA in which only 2 percent of 100 workers surveyed in Accra’s financial district could define what a pension was. Antwi argued that while government frameworks such as the micro-pension scheme were essential, the ultimate responsibility for retirement planning rested with individuals. “The objective of this book is to let people become aware that planning for retirement is your personal responsibility. It is not your employer’s responsibility. It is not government’s responsibility,” he said.
