NPS To OPS Transfer In Death And Disability Cases: Revised SOP For Pensioners And Families Explained

The Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) under the Union Ministry of Finance has revised the standard operating procedure (SOP) for migrating central government employees from the National Pension System (NPS) to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in cases of death and disability. The new directive dated October 19, 2026, supersedes the previous SOP issued in September 2025. It aims to make the migration process easier for NPS additional relief (NPS AR) cases. 

The revised SOP outlines the workflow, which involves multiple bodies to complete the transition. It begins with the CPAO sending scanned copies of the Disburser Portion of the Provisional Pension Payment Orders (PPPOs) to the concerned Pay and Accounts Offices (PAOs). The original documents are kept with the CPAO.

After receiving the documents, the PAO asks for the Service Book and supporting documents from the employee’s head of department (HoD).  The HoD is required to submit the records as well as a formal letter confirming that the provisional pension or family pension regularisation is according to the 2021 rules. 

PAO checks all records and generates a new PPO, incorporating both the old PPPO number and the Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN), and sends the completed PPO along with the special seal authority (SSA) back to CPAO. 

CPAO verifies it and then sends the new PPO, SSA, and last pay certificate (LPC) to the central pension processing centre (CPPC) for pension disbursement.

Pension Payments Without Interruption

Under the revised SOP, the emphasis is on maintaining continuous pension disbursement without interruption or double payments. CPAO has instructed the pension disbursing banks and accounting authorities to execute the monthly family pension or disability pension disbursement smoothly without disruptions. 

Further, the CPPC processes each case in accordance with the CCS (Pension) Rules and ensures that pension is disbursed in a timely manner under the new regular PPO. 

What Should Pensioners And Family Pensioners Do

The beneficiaries (eligible pensioners and family pensioners) need to follow two steps to ensure full compliance with the revised SOP. First, they need to return the old PPPO copy to the authorities. So, once the new regular PPO booklet is given to the pensioner or the family pensioner by the pension-authorising branch, they (pensioners) need to return the old PPPO to the bank. The bank subsequently forwards the old PPPO booklet to CPAO for updating the records and final cancellation. 

To continue receiving the monthly pension, pensioners are required to submit their annual life certificate to the bank every year in the month of November.

Dr Manjeet Singh Patel, President of the All India NPS Employees Federation and National Mission for Old Pension Scheme, welcomed this initiative. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “To facilitate the transfer process from NPS to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in cases of death and disability, the Ministry of Finance has issued revised SOPs, which will make this process easier. The All India NPS Employees Federation expresses gratitude to the government for removing technical hurdles and making this process time-bound. This will provide significant relief to the affected bereaved families.” 

The CPAO has directed concerned authorities to ensure implementation of the revised SOP by bringing it to the notice of concerned officials for time-bound compliance.