Funeral Assistance Scheme (PULWS)

What is the Funeral Assistance Scheme (PULWS)?

Funeral Assistance Scheme (PULWS) is a welfare benefit of the Puducherry Unorganised Labourers' Welfare Society, which functions under the Labour Department, Government of Puducherry. Under the scheme the Society extends Rs 7,000 to the nominee or dependants of a deceased unorganised worker who was registered with it, to meet funeral expenses.

The Government of Puducherry constituted the Puducherry Unorganised Labourers' Welfare Society in January 2001 to look after the welfare of workers in the unorganised sector: people with no employer-provided social security, no provident fund and no gratuity. After Parliament enacted the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008, which made it mandatory for every state and union territory to constitute a social security board, the Society was converted into the Puducherry Social Security Board (PSSB), a statutory body. Older documents and forms still carry the PULWS name, and readers will encounter both.

The Board has enlisted 28 categories of unorganised workers, ranging from domestic workers to a wide span of self-employed and casual trades.

How much is paid?

The funeral assistance is Rs 7,000, paid to the nominee or dependants of the deceased registered member.

This sits within a small package of member benefits that the Board provides:

Funeral assistance is intended to be the fastest of these to release, because the expense falls immediately. Where the death also qualifies for the death benefit, the two are separate claims and should both be pursued.

Who can claim the funeral assistance?

You can claim if:

• The deceased was a registered member of the Puducherry Unorganised Labourers' Welfare Society or the Puducherry Social Security Board at the time of death.
• You are the nominee recorded with the Board, or a dependant of the deceased.
• You can produce the death certificate and the deceased's registration card.
• The deceased was not in default of contribution for a continuous period of more than one year, which is the standing condition the Board applies to its death and funeral benefits.

You cannot claim if:

• The deceased was never registered with the Society or the Board. Membership is the basis of the entire scheme, and there is no provision for an unregistered worker's family.
• The deceased was registered with the construction workers welfare board instead: in that case claim the funeral assistance of that Board, which is a separate scheme.
• You are not the nominee and cannot establish that you are a dependant. A distant relative or a neighbour who paid for the funeral cannot claim in place of the family.
• The deceased's membership had lapsed through long default in contribution.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the funeral assistance

1. Register the death and obtain the death certificate from the registering authority. Nothing can move without it.
2. Locate the deceased member's registration card with the Puducherry Unorganised Labourers' Welfare Society or the Puducherry Social Security Board, along with any subscription receipts.
3. Establish that you are the nominee or a dependant. If a nomination was recorded with the Board, that settles the question. If not, obtain a family certificate or legal heir certificate from the Revenue authorities.
4. Obtain the claim form from the Labour Department, Government of Puducherry, or from the Board's office, and fill it in completely.
5. Submit the completed form with the death certificate, the member's registration card, proof of nomination or relationship, your Aadhaar card and your bank passbook. Collect the acknowledgement.
6. Apply promptly. Funeral assistance claims are meant to be settled quickly and the Board sets a period within which a claim must be lodged, so do not wait months.

How do I check the status of a claim?

1. Keep the acknowledgement and its reference number.
2. Contact the Labour Department, Government of Puducherry, or the Puducherry Social Security Board office, quoting the reference number.
3. Once sanctioned, confirm the credit in the claimant's bank passbook.

Common reasons claims are rejected

• The deceased was not a registered member. This is the decisive point and cannot be cured after the event.
• Default in contribution for more than a continuous year, which takes the member out of good standing.
• Claimant is not the nominee and cannot prove dependency. A legal heir certificate resolves most of these cases.
• Death certificate details do not match the registration record, a difference in the spelling of the name or in the date of birth is a common cause of delay.
• Claim lodged too late after the death.
• Bank details of the claimant wrong, causing the credit to fail.

Key dates and how to protect the benefit in advance

There is no annual window; a claim arises on the death of a member. The two things a worker can do while alive to protect this benefit for the family are simple and often neglected: record a nomination with the Board, and keep the subscription paid. A nomination on record removes the need for the family to obtain a legal heir certificate at the worst possible moment, and continuous subscription keeps the membership alive.

Related benefits worth claiming together

Where a registered member dies, the family should ask the Board about the death benefit of up to Rs 70,000 in addition to the funeral assistance, since these are separate benefits with separate claims. A woman member's family should also check whether any maternity benefit claim was pending.

Who counts as an unorganised worker in Puducherry

The Puducherry Social Security Board has enlisted 28 categories of unorganised workers, and a worker must fall within one of them to register. The categories cover people who work without a formal employment relationship, without provident fund cover and without gratuity, domestic workers are one of the listed categories, and the list extends across small trades, self-employment and casual work in the Union Territory.

If you are unsure whether your trade is listed, take the question to the Labour Department rather than assuming you are outside the scheme. The categories page on labour.py.gov.in carries the current list, and the department's staff can confirm where a particular occupation sits.

Construction workers are a separate case. A person engaged in building or other construction work registers not with this Board but with the Puducherry Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, which was constituted in 2002 and enlists 53 categories of construction workers. That Board runs its own funeral assistance, natural and accidental death benefit, medical assistance, maternity benefit, scholarships for workers' children, marriage assistance, LIC premium support and a Deepavali gift, along with relief of Rs 2,000 during a natural calamity or pandemic. Benefits are not transferable between the two bodies, so registering with the correct one is the decision that matters most.

Why registration is the real subject of this scheme

Almost every funeral assistance claim that fails, fails for a reason that was fixed years earlier: the worker was never registered, or let the registration lapse. Nothing the family does after the death can repair that.

If you work in an unorganised trade in Puducherry, the useful action today is to check whether you are registered with the Puducherry Social Security Board, record a nomination, and keep the subscription current. Those three steps convert a scheme that looks like paperwork into Rs 7,000 that reaches your family within days of a death, and open the door to the Rs 70,000 death benefit alongside it.

Help and grievance redressal

• Labour Department, Government of Puducherry — labour.py.gov.in
• PULWS page: labour.py.gov.in/puducherry-unorganised-labour-welfare-society
• Puducherry Social Security Board introduction: labour.py.gov.in/pssb-introduction
• Categories of unorganised workers; labour.py.gov.in/pssb-categories-unorganized-workers
• Welfare measures, labour.py.gov.in/welfare-measures

No fee is payable to make a claim. No agent can charge the family for lodging or following up a funeral assistance claim.