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The COVID-19 pandemic has hit all of us without a sign, many freelancers and self-employed people are affected most significantly. Because of the lockdown, they could not go out to work and do not have any income in all of a sudden.
To ease the burden of freelancers/self-employed person, our Prime Minister has introduced a new program in June 2020, named as the PenjanaGig Program. The PenjanaGig Programme is an RM50 million matching grant for gig economy platforms who contribute for their gig workers to SOCSO’s Self-Employment Social Security Scheme (SESSS) and Employees Provident Fund’s i-Saraan Scheme.
Since 1 January 2020, a total of 28,425 gig workers have registered with SOCSO. This number represents only 7 percent of approximately 400,000 individuals involved in the gig economy in the country, as estimated by MDEC. SOCSO hopes that more gig workers will be covered by social security through the PenjanaGig Programme as they are exposed to self-employment risks.
What does the scheme do?
The incentive under SOCSO’s PenjanaGig Programme allows gig workers to receive FREE SESSS (Self Employment Social Security Scheme) COVERAGE FOR A YEAR under Plan 2 (RM232.80 contribution), where the Government contributes 70 percent of the contribution payment and another 30 percent by gig economy freelance/self-employed person.
This means that the government contributes RM163 of SESSS Plan 2 while gig economy freelance/self-employed person contributes RM69.80. With the total contribution of RM232.80, you are covered by a monthly sum of RM1395.
The covered benefit by SESSS will not overlap with the existing insurance that you have subscribed to.
Who is eligible for the scheme?
According to PERKESO, you are eligible to apply for the PenjanaGig Programme if you are:
- Malaysian citizen
- Actively working under the gig economy platform provider.
- Working full time or part-time.
- A self-employed person who is currently contributing to the SKSPS (Skim Keselamatan Sosial Pekerjaan Sendiri)
- A self-employed person who is working in Malaysia.
What are the conditions for the gig economy platform provider?
- The platform provider MUST be registered with MDEC. Among the sectors that represent gig economy workers are the e-hailing services, food and goods transportation, and digital online business sectors.
- You can also check to see if the platform provider you are currently working with is a part of the MDEC programme and their eligibility through this link.
- Since Cloudbreakr is enlisted in the MDEC gig economy programme, all you need to do is to register in our platform and you will be entitled to receive benefits from the programme.
- Gig economy freelance/self-employed can register with the PenjanaGig Programme via gig.perkeso.gov.my. Applications and contribution payments can be made from 15 June 2020 until 31 December 2021.
What benefits are included?
Benefits provided by the SESSS, under the Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017 include:
- Medical Benefit
- Temporary Disablement Benefit
- Permanent Disablement Benefit
- Constant Attendance Allowance
- Dependant’s Benefit
- Funeral Benefit
- Facilities for physical or vocational rehabilitation
- Education Benefit
It is times like this that we all need some help from each other, and we think that the scheme could really help to ease the burden of our fellow influencers for a little. For further details on PenjanaGig, please refer to the FAQ published on SOCSO official website www.perkeso.gov.my or call 1-300-22-8000 or email to perkeso@perkeso.gov.my
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