Anyone who employs someone in Ghana - a company, a shop owner with two assistants, a household with a driver - is an employer under the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766), and owes pension contributions for every worker. This guide is the employer’s side; the worker’s is in SSNIT and pensions.

What you pay

Contributions are 18.5% of each worker’s basic salary, split between you and the worker:

Share of basic salary
You, the employer, on top of the salary 13%
The worker, deducted from their pay 5.5%
Total 18.5%

You collect both and send them in two parts:

  • 13.5% to SSNIT - the first tier. SSNIT passes 2.5% of it on to the National Health Insurance Authority.
  • 5% to your Tier 2 scheme, run by a trustee you choose and licensed by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority.

— The three tiers, explained

The deadline

The full amount, with a monthly contribution report listing each worker’s name, SSNIT number and contribution, must reach SSNIT by the 14th of the following month. January’s contributions are due by 14 February.

Late payment carries a compound penalty of 3% a month, or part of a month, on what is owed - on both your share and the worker’s. SSNIT takes defaulting employers to court, and deducting a worker’s share and not paying it over is the most serious failure of all: it is the worker’s money.

Registering

  1. Register the business with SSNIT at a branch or through its online portal. You get an employer registration number, which goes on every payment.
  2. Register each worker. A worker needs a SSNIT number, which since the Ghana Card became the SSNIT number is their Ghana Card PIN.
  3. Tell SSNIT within 30 days whenever someone joins or leaves.
  4. Appoint a Tier 2 trustee and register the scheme for your workers.

— Linking a Ghana Card to SSNIT

Common mistakes

  • Paying on total pay, not basic salary. Contributions are on basic salary; allowances are not included. But a basic salary set artificially low to cut contributions short-changes the worker’s pension, and SSNIT looks at it.
  • Leaving out casual and temporary workers. A worker kept on past the point where the Labour Act treats them as permanent is owed contributions like anyone else.
  • Domestic staff. A house help or driver employed by a household is a worker too, and many are never registered. Their pension starts with you.
  • Missing the report. Paying without the contribution report leaves SSNIT unable to credit each worker.

— Hiring help at home — Temporary and casual workers — PAYE and income tax

Workers can check their own statement, and should: a worker who finds months missing can report the employer to SSNIT.