DEWS DIFC: What It Means and How It Is Calculated

DEWS stands for the DIFC Employee Workplace Savings plan. It is a mandatory, defined contribution workplace savings scheme that replaced the traditional end of service gratuity for employees working in the Dubai International Financial Centre. If you employ staff in the DIFC, or you are an employee trying to work out what DEWS actually means for you, this guide answers the practical questions people usually have first.

DEWS stands for DIFC Employee Workplace Savings. It is sometimes referred to as the DIFC pension scheme or the DIFC Employee Benefits scheme, though DEWS is the correct and only official name. It launched in February 2020, replacing the previous end of service gratuity model for employees working for DIFC registered companies.

Is DEWS Mandatory in DIFC?

Yes. Every employer registered in the DIFC is required to enrol eligible employees in DEWS or an alternative qualifying scheme approved by the DIFC Authority. There is no option to continue the old gratuity model instead. An employer that fails to make the required contributions is in breach of DIFC Employment Law No. 2 of 2019.

The scheme applies to expatriate employees. UAE and GCC national employees remain on the General Pension and Social Security Authority scheme, GPSSA, instead, which works differently and is not part of DEWS.

How DEWS Contributions Are Calculated

Employer contributions are based on basic salary, not total remuneration, and the rate increases with length of service:

• 5.83 percent of monthly basic salary for the first five years of service
• 8.33 percent of monthly basic salary from the sixth year onwards

As a working example, an employee on a monthly basic salary of AED 20,000 in their first three years of service would see a monthly employer contribution of AED 1,166, calculated as 5.83 percent of AED 20,000. Once that employee passes five years of service, the same basic salary would generate a monthly contribution of AED 1,666, calculated at 8.33 percent instead.

Contributions are paid monthly into the employee’s account with the scheme’s appointed provider, rather than accruing as a lump sum the employer holds until termination, which is the main practical difference from the old gratuity model.

A longer serving employee shows the difference more clearly. Someone on a monthly basic salary of AED 35,000 who has passed six years of service would generate a monthly employer contribution of AED 2,915, calculated at 8.33 percent, compared to AED 2,040 a month if they were still within their first five years at the lower 5.83 percent rate. Over a year, that difference alone comes to AED 10,500.

When Can I Withdraw From DEWS?

An employee can access their DEWS savings once their employment with the sponsoring DIFC employer ends, whether through resignation, termination or redundancy. The funds belong to the employee, not the employer, from the point they are contributed, which is different from the old gratuity model where the employer held the liability until the relationship ended.

Some employees choose to leave their savings invested with the scheme provider after leaving their role rather than withdrawing immediately, depending on the investment options attached to their account.

What Is the Retirement Age for DIFC?

DIFC Employment Law does not set a fixed statutory retirement age in the way some other jurisdictions do. DEWS is designed to build a portable savings pot over an employee’s working life rather than being tied to a specific retirement date, so the funds remain accessible whenever the employment relationship with a DIFC employer ends.

DIFC Employee Benefits and DEWS

DEWS is often searched for under DIFC employee benefits, since it is the core statutory benefit every DIFC employer has to provide. Beyond DEWS itself, the term also covers things like health insurance, which is a separate mandatory requirement for DIFC employers, and annual leave entitlement, which sits in the employment contract rather than DEWS.

DIFC Pension Scheme and DEWS

DIFC pension scheme is another common way people search for DEWS, and for expatriate employees the two terms mean the same thing in practice. It is worth knowing that UAE and GCC national employees are the exception, since they remain on GPSSA rather than DEWS, so an employer with a mixed workforce needs to apply the right scheme to the right employee rather than assuming DEWS covers everyone.

What Happens to Gratuity Earned Before DEWS Started

DEWS only started collecting contributions from February 2020 onwards. Employees who were already working for a DIFC employer before that date do not lose the gratuity they had already accrued under the old system, it does not simply convert into DEWS contributions.

Instead, the employer’s liability for gratuity accrued before February 2020 remains in place under the terms that applied at the time, calculated separately from DEWS contributions made after that date. This creates two different entitlements running alongside each other for anyone employed before the scheme launched, the legacy gratuity balance for pre-2020 service, and DEWS contributions for everything after. Getting this split wrong is one of the more common mistakes we see in end of service calculations for longer serving employees.

Managing Your DEWS Account

DEWS accounts are administered by Zurich Workplace Solutions, the scheme’s appointed provider, not by individual employers or DIFC directly. Employees and employers manage contributions, check balances and make voluntary top ups directly through Zurich’s own portal, and Zurich’s own contact channels are the right place for account specific queries such as login access or contribution history.

Final Thought

DEWS is straightforward once the mechanics are clear, a monthly percentage of basic salary, increasing after five years, paid into an account that belongs to the employee from the point it is contributed. Where businesses run into difficulty is usually at the edges, mixed workforces with UAE national employees on GPSSA, contracts that still reference the old gratuity model, or split calculations for employees who were already employed before February 2020.

If your business needs advice on DEWS compliance or updating employment contracts to reflect it correctly, MAR Legal can help with the employment law side of that.

Contact MAR Legal today to discuss your DEWS obligations.