Not legal or financial advice. Benefit rates and eligibility are decided by PERKESO on a case by case basis. For your own situation, call the PERKESO careline at 1-300-22-8000 or check your record at the LINDUNG Faedah portal.
For years I looked at the SOCSO line on my payslip, saw a number under RM30, and scrolled past it. Then a friend got knocked off his motorbike on the way to work and PERKESO covered his hospital bill, medical leave, and physiotherapy.
That was the moment I actually read what I had been paying for.
SOCSO, or known as PERKESO, runs under the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969. If you are a private sector employee on a contract of service, you are in it. There is no opting out of the core scheme. Since 1 October 2024, contributions are capped at a wage ceiling of RM6,000 a month, up from RM5,000.
The split most people get wrong
Under Category 1 (employees below 60), your employer pays 1.75% of your wages and you pay 0.5%. Your boss is paying roughly three and a half times what you are, and you can check whether they are actually paying it. Even at the RM6,000 ceiling, your own share is about RM30 a month. Employees aged 60 and above fall into Category 2, where only the employer contributes and only the Employment Injury Scheme applies.
So what is LINDUNG 24 Jam exactly?
Its legal name is the Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja (SKBBK), which was created by the Employees’ Social Security (Amendment) Act 2026, or Act A1788 and got Royal Assent on February 23 before being gazetted on March 5 and taking effect on June 1.
But, there are three things people get wrong about it. It is not a private insurance product as it is run by PERKESO under the same Employees’ Social Security Act 1969 as the rest of your SOCSO. Also, it is not a replacement for anything as it sits on top of your existing coverage.
And there was no sign up form for most people: if you were already covered under Act 4, your existing SOCSO registration carried you straight in. Only staff hired on or after June 1 need their employer to register them through the ASSIST portal.
Is it just normal SOCSO but 24 hours?
This is the question I keep getting, so here it is straight. The benefits are identical to the Employment Injury Scheme. The only real difference is when the accident happens and who pays for it.
| Employment Injury | LINDUNG 24 Jam | |
|---|---|---|
| When it applies | At work, or commuting your normal route | Off the clock, unrelated to your job |
| Who funds it | Employer 1.25%, plus your 0.5% share | You, every sen of it |
| Benefits | Eight benefits | The same eight, same rates |
| Where | Includes work travel abroad | Inside Malaysia only |
| Age limit | Category changes at 60 | None, as long as you are employed |
| Your choice? | No, compulsory | Yes, since 8 July 2026 |
On the funding question, PERKESO’s argument is that employers already pay 1.25% into the Employment Injury Scheme, which covers work accidents and your commute.
Since LINDUNG 24 Jam covers your personal time, the argument goes, it is not the employer’s risk to fund. Whether you find that convincing is a separate matter, but that is the logic.
The eight benefits, and what they pay
| Benefit | What You Get |
|---|---|
| Medical Benefit | Free treatment at PERKESO panel clinics or government hospitals until fully recovered. Serious injuries get a second class ward with specialist treatment if needed. |
| Temporary Disablement | The daily rate is capped at RM158.67 per day, with a floor of RM30 per day. Needs certified MC of at least 4 days including the day of the accident. Paid even if you keep working and drawing wages. |
| Permanent Disablement | Assessed by the Medical Board, based on assessment rate, average wage and your age. |
| Constant Attendance | RM500 a month if you are assessed with permanent total disablement and need another person’s constant care. |
| Rehabilitation | Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, prosthetics, wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, plus vocational retraining and Return to Work support. |
| Dependants’ Benefit | Paid to your family if you die from a non work accident, at rates identical to the work injury scheme. |
| Funeral Benefit | RM3,000 to spouse, child or parent, or against actual funeral costs up to that maximum. |
| Education Benefit | A loan, not a grant, for a dependant child where the insured person dies or receives periodical permanent disablement payments. |
What actually counts as a covered accident
PERKESO published its own list of examples, and they are more specific than you would expect. The accident has to happen inside Malaysia, outside working hours, and be unrelated to your employment.
Balik kampung and holiday travel
Journeys home during festive seasons, whether you travel alone or with family and friends, plus holiday and leisure trips anywhere in Malaysia.
Accidents at home
Including falls from your sleeping place, and repairs around your own house, as long as the work is not income generating.
Religious activity
Accidents while preparing for or performing religious worship, including the journey there, and injuries during the Qurban sacrificial ritual.
Sport and recreation
Cycling, football, and other private recreation. This is the one that made the scheme click for most people.
Two oddly specific ones
Injury from an animal attack. And accidents on a return trip to your workplace or home to retrieve something you forgot.
What it does not cover
Any illness at all
Cancer, stroke, diabetes, heart disease, dengue, fever. This is an accident scheme. If it was not an accident, it is not covered. It is not a medical card and it never will be.
Anything outside Malaysia
There is no cover at all while you are abroad. Your Bali trip is not protected by this. Buy travel insurance.
Accidents while working
Not a gap, just a different door. Those stay under the Employment Injury Scheme, and that does not change whether you are in LINDUNG 24 Jam or not.
MC shorter than four days
Temporary Disablement Benefit only starts when certified medical leave runs to at least four days, counting the day of the accident.
Fraud, crime and self harm
Staged or fraudulent accidents, accidents involving criminal acts, and self inflicted injuries are all excluded.
Freelancers, and anything before 1 June 2026
Self employed people contribute under a separate scheme (Act 789) instead. Accidents before the scheme’s start date are out, as are certain unpaid leave months where no contribution was made.
The voluntary part that confuses many
After public pushback, the Cabinet made it voluntary for Malaysians on July 8 instead of an automatic opt-in. PERKESO released the opt out form on July 13 and it lasted until August 31.
The single most misread sentence of the year
“Voluntary” did not mean the deduction stopped on its own. It meant you were handed a choice where the default answer was yes. As one HR firm put it neatly: there was no deadline to stay in, only a deadline to leave. PERKESO confirmed that anyone who did not file a Release of Liability Notice by 31 August 2026 is automatically treated as a participant.
Opting out was also something you had to do yourself. HR could not file it for you. It meant logging into the LINDUNG Faedah portal, completing the Borang Pilihan with your name, IC number and which employer it applied to, then confirming a declaration that you understood you would not be entitled to the scheme’s benefits and would not hold your employer or PERKESO liable. You could also do it on a manual form at any PERKESO counter.
That form carried one more clause worth noticing: you had to confirm the decision was made voluntarily, without pressure or coercion from any party. That was PERKESO’s way of stopping employers from herding staff out of the scheme to simplify payroll.
Five rules that catch people out
Your June 2026 contribution is not coming back
The scheme was legally mandatory that month, so PERKESO has confirmed June deductions are not refundable, even for people who later opted out.
Sekali layak, terus layak
Once eligible, continuously eligible. If you are in the scheme, there is currently no announced mechanism to leave later. The 31 August window was the exit.
You can rejoin, but probably not leave twice
PERKESO’s updated participation form of 16 July 2026 added a pathway for people who opted out to opt back in. No mechanism has been announced for opting out a second time.
Opting out does not touch your other SOCSO
Employment Injury and Invalidity cover, which your employer funds, continue exactly as before. Leaving LINDUNG 24 Jam only removes cover for accidents in your own time.
Got two jobs? Pick one main employer
If you have multiple employers, your contribution goes through one main employer only, chosen through the PERKESO portal, so you are not deducted twice.
Two groups never got a choice at all. Foreign workers remain compulsorily enrolled and cannot opt out. And employees aged 60 and above are in it too, which is a genuine quirk, because that group pays no employee share under the normal Act 4 structure.
For them, this is the first SOCSO deduction they have ever seen on a payslip.
What it costs now vs 2031
| Phase | Period | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | 1 June 2026 to 31 May 2028 | 0.75% |
| Phase 2 | 1 June 2028 to 31 May 2031 | 1.00% |
| Phase 3 | 1 June 2031 onwards | 1.25% |
At the current rate, someone earning RM4,500 pays about RM33.35 a month. At or above the RM6,000 wage ceiling, the maximum is RM44.65 a month no matter how much you earn.
Note that the deduction follows PERKESO’s salary band schedule rather than a flat percentage of your exact gross, so your number may sit slightly off a clean calculation.
The thing worth sitting with: anyone deciding on this today is not really deciding about 0.75%. On current plans, the rate rises by two-thirds by 2031. That belongs in the conversation whichever way you lean. On your payslip, it should appear as its own line, separate from your existing SOCSO and EIS deductions.
It probably suits you if…
You have no personal accident insurance at all
This is the biggest one. If nothing else covers you when you are injured off the clock, this is the only thing standing between you and paying for everything yourself.
Your medical card premium is low
A cheap card usually means basic cover: hospital bills paid, but nothing for lost income, disability, or rehabilitation. Those are exactly the gaps this scheme fills.
Your employer gives you no accident cover
Plenty of Malaysian SMEs offer nothing beyond the statutory minimum. Check your benefits handbook before assuming you are covered.
People depend on your salary
Parents, a partner, children. The dependants’ benefit and the income replacement matter far more when you are the one everybody relies on.
Less essential if
You already hold comprehensive personal accident cover that pays income replacement and disability, not just medical bills. Worth actually reading your policy before you assume it does, because plenty of people discover their “coverage” is hospitalisation only.
The honest way to weigh it
It comes down to three questions. What other accident cover do you actually hold, and have you read it? What would your household do if your income stopped for three months? And how do you personally weigh a small certain cost against a large uncertain one? There is no universal right answer here, only an informed one and an uninformed one.
How to claim
Go through the LINDUNG Benefit Portal
Claims are submitted at lindungfaedah.perkeso.gov.my or at any PERKESO office, with the prescribed supporting documents.
Get a police report for road accidents
For any accident involving a vehicle, this is the document that establishes what happened and when. Get it early rather than reconstructing it later.
Keep every medical document
Your MC needs to be certified by the attending doctor and run to at least four days including the accident day, or Temporary Disablement Benefit will not pay.
Check the deduction is actually reaching PERKESO
A line on your payslip does not prove the money arrived. Verify your contribution record and report any gaps, because an accident in a month with no contribution on record can be rejected.
LINDUNG 24 Jam is SOCSO for your own time. Futsal injury, fall at home, balik kampung crash. Up to RM44.65 a month, paid entirely by you, rising to 1.25% by 2031.
Did not opt out by August 31? You are in by default and it’s recommended that you check your payslip.
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