OUR STORY

Our History

The Social Security & Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) has its origins from the State Pension Board. Established in 1981 through the enactment of the Social Security & Housing Finance Corporation Act, the Corporation was mandated to provide social protection and shelter for all Gambians. The result was the creation of two funds, the Social Security Fund and the Housing Finance Funds. The Social Security Fund further comprised of the Federated Pension Scheme (FPS) and the National Provident Fund (NPF) which were established to provide retirement benefits to quasi-government and private sector institutions. Subsequently, several Acts of Parliament have been passed which provide the regulatory framework that governs the social security contributions payable by all employees working in Gambia and benefits payments made to the scheme members.

An Act of Parliament passed in 1990 replaced the Worker's Compensation Act of 1949 with the Injuries Compensation Act and a new Social Insurance Scheme against employment injury was formally launched in 1996.

Timelines

• Year Event Acts of Parliament
• 1981 Social Security & Housing Finance Corporation (SSHFC) was established by an Act of Parliament SSHFC Act 1981
• 1981 The creation of the Social Security Fund and the Housing Finance and SSHFC was tasked with their administration. SSHFC Act 1981
• 1990 Replacement of the Workman's Compensation Act of 1949 with the Injuries Compensation Act and the establishment of the Injuries Compensation Fund (ICF). The SSHFC and the Department of Labour were tasked with the joint administration of this new Fund. The Injuries Compensation Act of 1990
• 1996 SSHFC successfully launched a new Social Insurance Scheme for protection against employment injury.
• 2015 The 1981 Act was repealed and replaced with an updated SSHFC Act. SSHFC Act 2015

SSHFC facts & figures (Dec 2018 figures)

• Largest estate developer with 7 estates covering over 28,400 hectares serving 6,000 families.
• Largest Gambian mortgage provider serving 4,034 customers.
• Largest pension provider, with the largest member's fund of D4.4BN, holding D4.4BN of total assets (figures as at December 2017).
• We are the only pension provider to the quasi-government and the private sector. A small number of private companies plus the Central Bank have company-sponsored pension plans, complementing our schemes, that are unregulated.

The difference we made in 2018

• Paid out D155M to members of our FPS, NPF schemes as benefits payments.
• Paid out D792K to members of our ICF schemes as compensation for claims.
• Supporting over 9,579 employers and 160,800 employees through our schemes.
• Employing 395 staff,158 women (40%) and 237 men (60%).

SSHFC Managing Director, Mohamadou Manjang joins Benjamin on Business & Economy to discuss the corporation and it's activities, August 2018.