The UAE’s end-of-service gratuity system is being reshaped, turning a lump sum paid on an employee’s exit into money that grows while they are still working.
WealthTech firm Kidbrooke has published a new whitepaper examining what this shift demands from the digital financial experiences built around it.
Cabinet Resolution No. 96 of 2023 gives private-sector employers a funded alternative to the traditional gratuity model. Kidbrooke notes that the change quietly transfers investment risk onto employees, many of whom have never previously had to make an investment decision.
According to Kidbrooke, appetite for the new approach is strong but confidence in it is not. The firm cites BlackRock’s 2026 survey, which found 91% of UAE expatriates considered a workplace savings plan appealing, yet only 6% expected to actually rely on one in retirement.
Kidbrooke argues this gap is not simply a matter of awareness, but of execution: the data needed to answer a basic question, whether someone is on track for retirement, already exists but is fragmented across payroll, administration, custody and asset management, with no single party responsible for the combined picture.
The whitepaper sets out what Kidbrooke calls a production-grade workplace-savings experience, covering the mechanics of Resolution 96, contribution rates, and where investment risk now sits. It also explores why interest in the scheme is high while expected reliance remains low, and what employers say is limiting adoption.
Kidbrooke’s analysis identifies six separate figures that determine an employee’s position, explaining why they rarely align, and argues that a single growth-rate projection can mislead savers. Instead, the paper makes the case for honest, stochastic projections that better reflect uncertainty. It closes with a ten-point specification for teams building or buying a workplace-savings journey, and highlights how Decision 49 of 2019 offers a ready-made disclosure standard that providers could adopt now rather than developing their own.
Kidbrooke positions the paper as relevant to employers weighing up the scheme, as well as the banks, insurers, wealth managers, advisers and product teams responsible for building the experience around it.
For more, read the whitepaper here.
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