Those who are self-employed and covered in 20 sectors including delivery riders are eligible for social security protection under the SKSPS.
The PERKESO Self-Employment Social Security Scheme targets delivery riders
PERKESO (Social Security Organisation) introduced the Self-Employment Social Security Scheme (SKSPS) in 2017 to provide protection for individuals who are self-employed under the provisions of the Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017.
This scheme protects self-employed individuals against employment injuries including occupational diseases and accidents during self-employment activities including while travelling for the purpose of such activities.
Among the 2023 Budget initiatives entrusted by the government to PERKESO are two initiatives under the SKSPS, namely SPS Madani and SPS Padanan Caruman.
> SPS Madani: The government sponsors 100% of the SKSPS contribution amount for Plan 2 contribution (RM232.80) and Plan 4 contribution (RM592.80) for a 12-month coverage.
The beneficiaries of the initiative involving Plan 2 SKSPS contribution are volunteers for the military, police, firefighters, civil defence, maritime and others.
For Plan 4 contribution, the beneficiaries are volunteers in Islamic worship places, supervisors and workers from the centre for community rehabilitation centre, and members of the public sector with the status “contract for service”.
> SPS Padanan Caruman: Introduced by the government in 2020 through contribution matching grant.
Under this initiative, the government would bear 80% of the contribution payment of SKSPS or RM186.20 from the Plan 2 contribution that is worth RM232.80, while the self-employed only pay 20% or RM46.60 for 12 months’ coverage.
The SPS Padanan Caruman targets self-employed individuals in 11 categories – SPS Agro, SPS Lain Upaya 2.0, SPS Sukan, SPS Jaja 2.0, SPS Seni 2.0, SPS Asal 2.0, SPS Usahawanita 2.0, SPS Joran, SPS Gig 3.0, SPS Didik and SPS Servis.
SPS Gig 3.0 is targeted at gig workers, especially delivery riders, who are mostly youth.
To date, 69,463 individuals are covered by SKSPS under SPS Madani, while 20,077 self-employed individuals are under the SPS Padanan Caruman.
SKSPS benefits
Those who are self-employed in 20 sectors are eligible for social security protection under the SKSPS, while those in the targeted categories are eligible to receive government assistance through Budget 2023 – namely SPS Madani (100% contribution sponsored by the government) or SPS Padanan Caruman (in which the government pays for 80% of the contribution).
These contributors are eligible to receive eight benefits provided under SKSPS, such as medical benefit, temporary disablement benefit, permanent disablement benefit, constant attendance allowance, dependants’ benefit, facilities for physical or vocational rehabilitation, funeral benefit, and education benefit.
Example 1: A young delivery rider who is eligible for the SPS Padanan Caruman initiative via SPS Gig only needs to pay 20% of the SKSPS contribution, which is RM46.60, to get protection for 12 months – compared to the actual contribution amount of RM232.80 for the Plan 2 contribution.
This is because the government sponsors 80% of the contribution payment, amounting to RM186.20.
Example 2: Police volunteers are eligible for SKSPS coverage under the SPS Madani initiative without having to pay the SKSPS contribution because the government, through Budget 2023, fully sponsors the contribution payment of RM232.80 for the 12-month coverage.
According to PERKESO, the initiatives for SKSPS protection have been well-received by the youth since it was introduced by the government in 2020.
The following statistics shows the increase in SKSPS coverage for the self-employed especially youth:
> Penjana Gig (2020): 20,310 people
> SPS Lindung (2021): 265,732 people
> SPS Wanita (2021): 21,350 people
> SPS Wanita (2022): 103,119 people
> SPS Padanan Caruman (2022): 358,444 people
> SPS Madani (2023): 69,463 people
> SPS Padanan Caruman (2023): 20,077 people.
However, there are also self-employed individuals who do not take up the incentives offered by the government to be protected by the SKSPS even though the amount of the contribution they need to pay is lower than the actual contribution of SKSPS or the cost of insurance schemes provided by other companies.
Protection for delivery riders
PERKESO has established collaborations not only with service provider platforms such as GrabFood, Foodpanda, McDonalds, Halo Delivery, Shopee and others, but also with government ministries and agencies that regulate the activities of the self-employed to create awareness of social security protection.
Several promotions and engagements have also been carried out to publicise the initiative to help self-employed individuals qualify for the eight benefits under SKSPS in the event of work-related accidents, or occupational disease.
In addition, the Human Resources Ministry and Transport Ministry have agreed to set the prerequisites for SKSPS registration for vocational licence and operator licence to ensure the self-employed in the passenger transport sector as well as the transport and delivery of goods or food sector are protected by PERKESO.
PERKESO is also in the process of mandating all 20 sectors under SKSPS so that the social security protection can be guaranteed for the self-employed should employment injury befall them.
With the steep increase in medical costs, to some extent the contribution made to the SKSPS will ease the burden of those who are self-employed in the event of an accident as they are eligible for various benefits under the scheme.
It is PERKESO’s hope that everyone plays a role in promoting the SKSPS to the self-employed to ensure their welfare is taken care of should any untoward incident happen while they are carrying out the self-employment activities.
