10,000 Felcra participants to get Socso protection

The SPS Contribution Matching programme is a government matching grant initiative introduced in Budget 2022 aimed at encouraging and easing the burden of the self-employed to get social protection from Sosco.

"Under this initiative, the government will cover 80 per cent of the SKSPS Plan 2 contribution, while contributors only have to pay 20 per cent, which is RM46.60 of the full contribution amount (RM232.80)," according to a joint statement by Socso and Felcra Berhad, today.

The contribution under SPS Tani by Felcra Berhad is realised through the TANGO project, a platform that gathers entrepreneurs and the self-employed, including online gig workers, to attract these groups to participate in the SKSPS.

SKSPS provides protection from employment injuries, including occupational diseases and accidents during work-related activities, including medical benefits, temporary disablement benefits, permanent disablement benefits and constant-attendance allowance.

Other benefits are dependants' benefits, funeral benefits, physical or vocational rehabilitation facilities, and education benefits.

Meanwhile, Socso hoped that more agencies would emulate Felcra's concern in the welfare and protection aspects of their participants so that more self-employed individuals are protected through SKSPS.

"This scheme provides protection to not only self-employed individuals but also their dependants in the event of a work-related death," it said.

To date, nearly 711,000 active contributors are registered under SKSPS out of approximately 2.8 million self-employed individuals nationwide.