Contribution Gaps: What They Mean and Why They Matter
“A blank month on your pension record is a question, not an answer. Learn the four possible causes of contribution gaps and what you should do next.”
CONTRIBUTION DISCIPLINE · READING A GAP CORRECTLY
Contribution Gaps: What They Mean and Why They Matter
A blank month is a question, not yet an answer.
You count the contributions on your pension record and one month is blank. The deduction was on your payslip. Before deciding what happened, it is worth knowing that a blank month has four possible causes, and only one of them is anybody's fault.
"A blank month is a question, not yet an answer."
What a Contribution Gap Actually Is
A contribution gap is any month in your working life where no contribution was recorded against your pension account.
The blank space looks the same whatever produced it. That is the whole difficulty: your record shows you the gap, never the reason.
Four Reasons a Month Is Blank
1. Still in Transit
Your employer deducts your 5.5% and remits the full 18.5% within 14 days after the end of each month (Act 766, §63).
The most recent month on a record is usually this, and it resolves itself once the remittance lands.
First step: Check the date.
2. You Were Not in Paid Employment
You may have been between jobs, studying, or running your own business.
Treatment during unpaid leave depends on your employer's arrangements, so confirm that with your employer.
Mandatory Tier 2 runs through payroll while you are employed and paid; with no salary, no contribution was due.
Nothing went wrong, but no process will open on it either.
First step: Ask SPT what voluntary Tier 3 contributions involve.
3. The Contribution Never Arrived
Your payslip shows the deduction, your record shows nothing, and the month is older than the remittance window.
Either it was never remitted, or it was remitted against the wrong details — the first is a default, the second a record correction.
First step: Take dated payslips to HR.
4. It Is Not a Gap — It Is Another Account
Months worked for a former employer sit in the Tier 2 account run by that employer's trustee.
Each Tier 2 account is paid on its own contributions and growth, so it will not appear on this statement.
Holding more than one is normal, and they can usually be consolidated, subject to scheme rules.
First step: List every employer you have had.
What Each Gap Costs
A delayed month costs nothing once it lands.
A month deducted and never remitted is what the law treats most seriously: unpaid contributions attract a penalty of 3% per month, and the contribution and penalty can be recovered, your account credited once they are.
Recovery is a process the law provides, not a guaranteed outcome or timeline — which is why dated payslips matter.
A break in employment is the quiet one. No rule was broken and nobody is at fault, so no process will ever open on it.
Akosua's Twelve Months
Akosua earns GH¢2,000 basic, so her Tier 2 contribution is 5% — GH¢100 a month.
She started her present job on 1 March, after two months out of work, so ten contributions were due for the year to 31 December.
December is the most recent month and falls due within 14 days after month-end, so it is a timing issue. Once it lands, the record should read GH¢1,000.
January and February were before she started, so no contribution was due. Nothing was taken and nothing needs escalating — but those two months stay empty unless she chooses to act on them.
(Illustrative only.)
In Ghana, Under Act 766
The mandatory contribution is 18.5% of basic salary — employer 13% and employee 5.5% — and your employer remits the whole amount within 14 days after the end of each month (§63).
Of that, 5% builds your funded Tier 2 pot.
Where contributions go unpaid, the law adds a 3% per month penalty and provides for recovery, and your account is credited once amounts are recovered (§64).
If an employer is wound up, unpaid contributions rank ahead of many other debts (§87).
A Tier 2 scheme must keep proper records of the contributions made for each member (§105).
Mandatory contributions follow employment; voluntary Tier 3 contributions do not (§108). This is why Tier 3 is one route available to a member who wants to save against a past break.
What You Should Do Next
Main Check
Count the contributions on your record for the last twelve months against your payslips for the same period.
Classify every blank month before you act on it: timing, a break in employment, a contribution that never arrived, or another account.
1. For a Recent Month, Check the Date First
Contributions fall due within 14 days after month-end (§63), so the newest month is often simply in transit.
If it is still blank a month later, treat it as the third cause: a contribution that never arrived.
Your contribution history is in the Member Portal, or request a statement from SPT.
2. Where Your Payslip Shows a Deduction
If your payslip shows a deduction and your record does not, raise it with HR with dated payslips.
If it is not resolved, escalate to SPT and then the NPRA, and keep the payslips either way.
Where the blank months are a period you were not employed, ask SPT what voluntary Tier 3 contributions involve.
Key Takeaway
"A blank month is a question, not an accusation."
Timing resolves itself; a break in employment is the one nobody else will close; a month that never arrived needs dated evidence; another account is not a loss.
Find out which one you are looking at before you act.
This material is general pension education under the Retirement Edge Program and is not personalised financial, investment, tax or legal advice.
The worked example is illustrative. Contribution, remittance, recovery and consolidation matters are governed by scheme rules, Act 766 (as amended) and NPRA regulations and may change — confirm current requirements with SPT.
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