The Code on Social Security, 2020

Nine acts — PF, ESI, gratuity, maternity benefit, employees’ compensation and more — become one code, and for the first time gig and platform workers get a statutory route into social security.

In force since 21 November 2025; central rules notified 8 May 2026. State rules are at different stages — check the tracker for your state, because until a state notifies final rules, the rules under the acts below continue transitionally.

What it replaces

• Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
• Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948
• Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923
• Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
• Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
• Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959
• Cine-Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981
• Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996
• Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008

What changes

Gig and platform workers enter the statute

Aggregators contribute 1–2% of annual turnover (capped at 5% of amounts paid to their workers) towards a social security fund for gig and platform workers.

Gratuity reaches fixed-term employees

Pro-rata gratuity after one year of fixed-term service — the five-year qualifying period remains for permanent employees.

The wage definition bites here hardest

PF and gratuity are calculated on the code’s wider “wages” base (the 50% rule from the Code on Wages), which is where most employers feel the codes in money terms.

Wider ESI reach

ESI coverage extends pan-India and can apply to establishments with fewer than ten workers in hazardous occupations.

Maternity benefit carried forward

26 weeks’ paid maternity leave and crèche requirements continue as under the 2017 amendment, now housed in the code.

What it means for compliance

• PF and gratuity provisioning move to the wider wage base — budget for the increase before a state’s rules land, not after.
• Establishments using fixed-term contracts owe gratuity accrual from year one.
• Registers, returns and contribution filings run under the code’s rules — the Social Security (Central) Rules, 2026 where the Centre is the appropriate Government, the state’s rules elsewhere — including the Form XXIII unified annual return.

Sources

• Press Information Bureau / DD News — four Labour Codes in force, 21 November 2025
• DLA Piper — Key considerations of the notified Central Rules (May 2026)
• Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan — state rules status tracker

Compiled from the sources above on 19 August 2026 and pending review by our legal team.

Informational only, not legal advice. Thresholds stated here are the code’s central provisions; your state’s rules may modify them — verify before acting.