KUALA LUMPUR: Almost half a million housewives have registered for the Housewives Social Security Scheme (SKSSR) under the Social Security Organisation (Socso), says Human Resources Minister Steven Sim.
He said 474,982 women are making contributions through SKSSR as of Sept 30 this year, adding that this means the ministry has achieved 95% of its initial target of 500,000 registrations for 2024.
“The flexibility in the contribution payment methods – which can be made by the husband, the housewife herself, family members or a third party – has been identified as one of the contributing factors to the success of this scheme.
“As of Aug 31, SKSSR has approved 1,480 claims involving the disbursement of benefits, amounting to more than RM2.7mil,” he said when met at a Deepavali celebration organised by the ministry and Socso at Sentul Perdana Community Centre here yesterday.
Also present were ministry secretary-general Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof, Socso board chairman Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal and Socso group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed.
Sim said that the achievement of the programme reflected the government’s determination to expand social security coverage to include sectors focused on helping people and communities.
The SKSSR was previously implemented on Dec 1, 2022, under the Housewives’ Social Security Act 2022, to provide social security protection to women, married or otherwise, against domestic injury, illnesses and invalidity while managing their households.
The scheme requires a contribution of only RM120 a year, which can be made either by the woman or her husband, family members or any other third party.
In a related development, Sim said Socso received an additional RM86.2mil to provide matching grants for the Self-Employment Social Security Scheme (SKSPS) through the SPS Madani and SPS Matching Contribution initiatives.
He added that applications for SPS Madani and SPS Matching Contribution remain open until Dec 31 for individuals from 20 self-employment sectors, such as farming, fishing and food delivery outlets.
“As of Oct 4, a total of 697,787 individuals have contributed to the SKSPS, with 4,052 claims processed and total benefits exceeding RM19.2mil paid.
“This strong response reflects the effectiveness of protection benefits in ensuring income continuity in the event of a mishap, even for workers in the informal sector,” he said.
The SKSPS was created to provide protection to individuals who are self-employed under the provisions of the Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017.
This scheme is mandatory for the passenger transport sector – namely taxi drivers, ehailing and bus drivers – and came into effect on June 1, 2017.
On Jan 1, 2020, SKSPS coverage was extended to 19 other self-employment sectors, making it a total of 20 sectors covered by the scheme.
Beginning Jan 1 next year, it will be mandatory for licensed hawkers and traders to be covered under the scheme too.
