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Aiming to expand social-security coverage and address compliance gaps the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) under the Ministry of Labour & Employment introduced the Employees’ Enrolment Scheme – 2025 with effect from 1 November 2025. Details of the scheme The six-month period (until 30 April 2026) allows eligible establishments to voluntarily enroll employees who joined between 1 July 2017 and 31 October 2025 and were not covered under the EPF regime at the time of or after their joining. Key features: Employers can declare such employees and regularize past non-compliance. The employee’s contribution for the period missed in coverage is waived if it was not deducted. The employer must pay their share interest under Section 7Q administrative charges and a nominal penalty of ₹100 - which will be deemed to be compliance with respect to all three EPF schemes. The scheme is open to all establishments whether they were covered under the EPF earlier or not. Establishments which are under investigation also for any violation (say under Section 7A or para 26B of EPS-1995) are eligible to come under the scheme and settle up with the penalty of ₹100 as the upper limit. Why it matters? Experts say that this scheme is a part of the government’s continued efforts to increase formal-sector coverage and ensure that employees who had remained out of the net due to changes in wage thresholds and compliance norms in the last four years are brought under coverage. For employers it provides a “clean up” window or a limited-time opportunity to regularize their past non-compliance without attracting large penalties or enforcement action. The conditions All declarations must be made only online through the EPFO portal. Employers must generate a Face-Authentication-based UAN for each employee through the UMANG app and use the Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR) facility to pay the contributions. Only employees who are alive and are currently working with the employer at the time of making the declaration are eligible to be enrolled under this scheme. Any declarations based on mis-representation of facts or suppression of facts will be treated as void ab initio and penal action may be initiated. What to watch? Employers who have employees falling within the specified joining period but have not been brought under the EPFO coverage should check their records and may want to take advantage of this window before it closes. Employees can verify if the UAN and contribution records reflect the past gap. For both parties the timely move may help in avoiding future disputes interest costs or enforcement action. With this step EPFO is aiming to bring in more clarity and fairness to the system - allowing the employees who were missed out during a period to have a shot at social protection and giving employers a limited-time amnesty window. Stakeholders should move fast: the window closes 30 April 2026.