1. Are you familiar with the Employment Injury Scheme and the Invalidity Pension Scheme?
SOCSO was incorporated to assist both medically and financially to employees that have had their abilities reduced or incapacitated due to accidents or diseases. They also provide aid to the dependents of employees if they die through pensions.
The benefits under this scheme are divided into the Employment Injury Scheme and the Invalidity Pension Scheme.
Employment Injury Scheme Benefits
Image source: Astro Ulagam
This scheme provides coverage and protection for employees who suffer from employment injury.
- Medical benefits
- Temporary disablement benefit
- Permanent disablement benefits
- Constant-attendance allowance
- Rehabilitation benefit
- Return to work programme
- Dependent benefit
- Funeral benefits
- Education benefits.
Also important to note that employees that have stopped contributing to SOCSO might still be covered if they fulfil certain conditions. A fact that has gone unnoticed by many.
Invalidity Pension Scheme
Image source: PERKESO
This scheme covers employees who experience invalidity and death due to any causes not related to their employment. Invalidity implies the inability of an employee to achieve one-third of the customary earnings of a sound insured person. This inability may take the form of permanency or it’s very unlikely to recover.
The benefits that could be attained are:
- Invalidity pension
- Invalidity grant
- Survivors' pension
- Funeral benefit
- Facilities for Physical Rehabilitation and Dialysis
- Education Benefits
The survivors' pension is also an important piece of information for those who assume that the pension will stop once the employee has passed away. Through the survivors' pension scheme, dependent family members can apply to have it transferred to them.
2. Take advantage of the FREE Health Screening Program (HSP)
The SOCSO Health Screening Program (HSP) is a new benefit provided by SOCSO to promote healthy lifestyles and identify high-risk groups of workers with non-communicable diseases. The HSP voucher will be given out by the employer to their respective employees (you).
You can follow the following steps to redeem your free health screening:
a) You(employer/employees) can check the list of HSP panel clinics through SOCSO’s sehat portal at http://sehat.perkeso.gov.my ;
b) Make an appointment with your selected panel clinic;
c) Bring together the voucher to the HSP panel clinic;
d) For mammogram screening, panel doctors will refer the employee to the Mammogram Centre for screening.
Also, SOCSO has recently implemented the COVID-19 Screening Test Program Rehabilitation Phase. Following the rise of COVID cases, free COVID-19 screening tests are to be provided by employers to their respective employees to avoid the spread of the disease, as well as keeping everyone at a healthy state.
Taking time off from work and getting yourself checked is already a difficult and troublesome process. So why not take advantage of these free medical benefits that can save you a lot of time and money.
3. Are You Self-Employed?
Image source: Ringgit Oh Ringgit
If your answer above is a yes, then why not register for SOCSO? You might question the purpose of spending your earnings as a contribution for SOCSO, right?
Well, here are the benefits you’ll receive when you contribute to SOCSO:
- Medical benefit
- Temporary disablement benefit
- Permanent disablement benefit
- Dependent’s benefit
- Constant-attendance allowance
- Funeral benefit
- Facilities for physical/vocational rehabilitation
- Education benefit
So how do you sign up for all these benefits? Easy! Just follow these simple steps below:
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Go to matrix.perkeso.gov.my to first sign up for an account
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Once your account is verified, you can then register under the “I’m Self-Employed” mode
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At the REGISTER & CONTRIBUTION panel click on Register
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At the registration page, select one of the sectors from the dropdown list. Click Submit to continue
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You will be asked to fill out a registration form
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Then select your sector class and plan
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After agreeing to the Terms & Conditions, you can submit and pay your contribution, then finally you’re done!
Don’t miss out on those great benefits and sign up for SOCSO now!
4. Is SOCSO Compulsory?
Following the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969, SOCSO contribution is compulsory for all Malaysian & permanent resident employees (full-time/part-time/temporary) with monthly salaries lower than RM4,000.
It’s an offence if your employer fails to contribute on your behalf to SOCSO, regardless of whether you work part-time or not. Additionally, foreign workers have also been protected by SOCSO since 2019.
The 'once-in-a-while-in' principle is no longer valid, except for Federal and State Government permanent employees, domestic servants, and self-employed individuals.
So, if your current salary has increased to exceed RM4,000 and you have contributed since your previous salary, you still have to contribute at a slightly higher rate. You can refer to point number 5.
Meanwhile, for those with a starting salary of RM4,000 and above and have never registered nor made a contribution to SOCSO, unfortunately, you are not eligible to register. Unless you are self-employed, you can further proceed to register yourself on the PERKESO MATRIX web page under self-employed mode as mentioned previously.
5. What is your SOCSO contribution rate?
The Rate of Contribution Schedule would highlight a better idea of what you are expected to contribute.
Refer to the table below for an overview of the contribution rate that follows your monthly wage:
Actual monthly wage of the month |
First Category Employer’s |
First Category Employee’s |
Total contribution for the first category |
Second Category (Employment Injury Scheme) By employer only |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| When wages exceed RM3,800 but not RM3,900 | RM67.35 | RM19.25 | RM86.60 | RM48.10 |
| When wages exceed RM3,900 but not RM4,000 | RM69.50 |
RM19.75 | RM88.80 | RM49.40 |
| When wages exceed RM4,000 | RM69.50 | RM19.75 | RM88.80 | RM49.40 |
Other than that, you should be aware of which category you belong to.
First Category: Employment Injury And Invalidity Schemes
- All employees below 60 years old are required to participate in this category.
- You should be aware that only 0.5% of employee’s monthly wages should be extracted out for the contribution. Any figures that suggest higher should be reported.
Second Category: Employment Injury Scheme Only
- Employees who 60 years old and above and still working
- Employees above 55 years old who have made their first SOCSO contribution
- Insured Person receiving Invalidity Pension and still working and receiving less than 1/3 of the average monthly wages before the invalidity
- Employer to bear the contribution costs to SOCSO at 1.25% of monthly wages
For the calculation of your Socso contribution, you can refer to this link.
Start utilising your SOCSO!
If before this you were clueless about the purpose of SOCSO and whether it is important, we hope now you can acknowledge that SOCSO carries an infinite number of benefits just for you!
Don’t forget to help spread the word and share this knowledge with friends and family. You never know who you might be helping. For a deeper look into what SOCSO can do for you, please refer to their website over here.
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