What Is SKBBK? The SOCSO Employee Deduction on Malaysian Payslips

If a new line appeared on your Malaysian payslip labeled SKBBK EMPLOYEE, EMPLOYEE NEI, or SOCSO SKBBK, it is a SOCSO deduction, and it is yours alone. SKBBK stands for Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja, which PERKESO translates as the Non-Employment Injury Scheme and markets under the name LINDUNG 24 JAM, or 24-hour protection. It started on June 1, 2026.

The deduction is 0.75% of monthly wages, capped at a RM6,000 wage ceiling, which puts the maximum at RM44.65 a month. Your employer contributes nothing to this particular scheme. Its job is to take the amount off your pay and send it to PERKESO with the rest of the monthly SOCSO contribution.

SKBBK is no longer compulsory for local employees. The Cabinet made it voluntary on July 8, 2026, PERKESO opened an opt-out window from July 13 to August 31, 2026, and that window has closed. Anyone who did not opt out in time is now a participant, and PERKESO's "Once In, Always In" rule keeps them in the scheme. New local employees can still opt out when they join, and anyone who opted out can opt back in. For foreign workers, it stayed mandatory throughout.

We run payroll and act as employer of record in Malaysia through our own local entity. This page explains the deduction for employees and for payroll teams, and every figure on it comes from PERKESO: its published contribution schedule, its frequently asked questions (FAQ) on the scheme, and its web pages.

1. What SKBBK Is

The name, decoded

SKBBK is the Malay acronym for Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja. PERKESO's English materials call it the Non-Employment Injury Scheme, and the public brand name is LINDUNG 24 JAM, which translates as 24-hour protection. All three names describe the same thing, which is why the payslip label, the PERKESO portal, and your employer's human resources team may each use a different one.

It sits under the Employees' Social Security Act 1969 (Akta Keselamatan Sosial Pekerja 1969), known as Act 4, and was added by the Employees' Social Security (Amendment) Act 2026, Act A1788, which took effect on June 1, 2026.

What it covers

SOCSO's long-standing Employment Injury Scheme covers accidents that arise out of and in the course of employment. PERKESO's page for that scheme lists commuting accidents, on the route between home and work, among the accidents it covers. SKBBK covers the rest of the day: accidents that are not connected to your job at all.

PERKESO gives the examples as accidents at home, accidents while traveling for reasons unrelated to work, and accidents during personal activities. The accident has to happen inside Malaysia. SKBBK provides no cover for an accident abroad.

Sources for this section: PERKESO's LINDUNG 24 Jam FAQ, English version of August 13, 2026 ↗, questions 1, 9, 30, 31, 34, 44, and 52, and its Employment Injury Scheme page ↗, both read September 22, 2026.

2. How Much Comes Off Your Pay

The rate, and how the bracket table sets the amount

The headline rate is 0.75% of monthly wages, and wages are capped at RM6,000 for SOCSO purposes. The amount on the payslip is a fixed ringgit amount read off PERKESO's contribution schedule, which groups wages into bands, mostly RM100 wide. So two people on different salaries inside the same band pay the same amount, and multiplying your exact salary by 0.75% will usually give you a number close to the one you see, but not equal to it.

These are the amounts straight from PERKESO's published schedule, for First Category contributors, which covers most employees under 60. The employer column is there for context and does not come off your pay.

Source: PERKESO, Employees' Social Security Act 1969: New Contribution Rate Including the Non-Employment Injury Security Scheme (SKBBK) ↗, 65-band schedule, read September 22, 2026. If your band is not shown above, all 65 bands are in that document.

The rate is scheduled to rise twice

Source: PERKESO, Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja (LINDUNG 24 JAM) ↗ and its LINDUNG 24 Jam FAQ ↗, question 31, both read September 22, 2026. PERKESO states that the phased implementation of the rates is subject to stipulated regulations and their effective dates. The rates themselves are listed in the Third Schedule of the Employees' Social Security (Amendment) Act 2026, Act A1788.

3. Compulsory or Not: What Changed on July 8, 2026

The Cabinet decision

SKBBK launched on June 1, 2026, as a mandatory scheme for everyone covered by the Employees' Social Security Act 1969. On July 8, 2026, the Cabinet removed the compulsory element for local employees. PERKESO's position since then is that the scheme is mandatory for foreign workers and voluntary for local employees, with effect from that date. PERKESO counts permanent and temporary residents as local employees.

How the opt-out worked, and when it closed

Making the scheme voluntary did not take anyone out of it. Local employees stayed enrolled by default and had to file a declaration to leave. PERKESO opened that declaration on the Portal LINDUNG Faedah on July 13, 2026, and closed it on August 31, 2026.

If you did not file it by August 31, PERKESO treats you as a participant, and the deduction continues. PERKESO's rule for participants is "Once In, Always In" (sekali layak, terus layak), which means an employee who is in the scheme stays in it and keeps contributing. A new local employee can still opt out when they join, before their first month's contribution is deducted.

An employee who opted out can opt back in by submitting PERKESO's Participation Status Update Form (Opt-Out to Opt-In), which is on the scheme page ↗. Cover starts from the date and time the choice is submitted to PERKESO, and contributions start with that month's salary, calculated on the full month's wages whatever the day of the month.

Foreign workers

Nothing changed for foreign employees. SKBBK remains mandatory for them under the existing provisions of the Act, they do not make an election, and the employer deducts and remits as normal. One exclusion applies specifically to them: PERKESO will not pay a claim where a foreign worker was misusing a pass or permit, or was engaged in an activity that breached Immigration Department conditions at the time of the accident.

Sources for this section: PERKESO's LINDUNG 24 Jam FAQ ↗, questions 2, 3, 5 to 7, 9, 10, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 35, 46, and 50, and its scheme page ↗, both read September 22, 2026.

4. What You Get For It

The benefits mirror the structure of the Employment Injury Scheme, applied to non-work accidents. PERKESO lists them as:

• Medical Benefit. Treatment at a private clinic or a government clinic or hospital until full recovery, with the cost reimbursed by PERKESO at government hospital rates. Serious injuries must be treated at a government hospital, in a second-class ward, with specialist care where needed.
• Temporary Disablement Benefit. Paid across the certified medical leave period, provided it runs to at least four days including the day of the accident.
• Permanent Disablement Benefit. Assessed by a PERKESO Medical Board, with the amount set by the assessed degree of disablement, wage rate, and age.
• Constant Attendance Allowance. RM500 a month where the Medical Board finds the person needs another person in constant attendance.
• Physical and Vocational Rehabilitation. Physiotherapy, occupational therapy, prosthetics and orthotics, wheelchairs and other aids, and return-to-work training.
• Dependants' Benefit. Paid where the employee dies from a covered non-work accident, on the same terms as the Employment Injury Scheme.
• Funeral Benefit. RM3,000, paid to eligible next of kin, or against receipts up to RM3,000 to whoever handled the funeral.
• Educational Benefit. A loan facility for dependent children, subject to PERKESO's terms.

What it does not cover

PERKESO publishes a list of exclusions. SKBBK does not cover anyone who opted out and is not contributing. It does not cover accidents outside Malaysia. It does not cover accidents at work, because those already sit under the Employment Injury Scheme. It does not cover fraud, criminal acts, or self-inflicted injury and suicide, although a road accident that is not a criminal offense stays covered even if the police issue a fine or a compound. It does not cover anything that happened before 00:00 on June 1, 2026. And it does not cover illness or injury that is not the result of an accident, including occupational disease.

Claims go through the Portal LINDUNG Faedah or a PERKESO office, with documents supporting the accident and the medical treatment. If you want to check whether your contributions have reached PERKESO, its PRIHATIN portal and app show your contribution record. PERKESO's call center is 1300-22-8000.

Sources for this section: PERKESO's LINDUNG 24 Jam FAQ ↗, questions 40, 44 to 46, 51, 52, 59, and 60, read September 22, 2026.

5. SKBBK Next to the Other SOCSO Lines on Your Payslip

A Malaysian payslip usually carries several statutory deductions, and the new one is easy to mistake for a rate increase on an old one. SKBBK is a separate scheme with a line of its own. These are the three schemes under the Employees' Social Security Act, as PERKESO sets them out for a participating employee:

Source: PERKESO's LINDUNG 24 Jam FAQ ↗, question 34, and its contributions page ↗, both read September 22, 2026. The wage ceiling has been RM6,000 a month since October 1, 2024, according to PERKESO's contribution rate page ↗.

The fourth PERKESO line, the Employment Insurance System (EIS, also shown as SIP, from its Malay name, Sistem Insurans Pekerjaan), is a separate scheme under the Employment Insurance System Act 2017. It costs 0.4% of wages in total, split evenly: 0.2% from the employer and 0.2% from the employee, on the same RM6,000 ceiling. If your payslip shows both an EIS line and an SKBBK line, they are unrelated.

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the levy collected by the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp) are run by other bodies and are outside this page. For the full Malaysian picture, including minimum wage, leave, and tax, see our Malaysia employment guide. For the other recent statutory change Malaysian payroll teams have had to absorb, see our note on mandatory EPF for foreign workers.

6. If You Run the Payroll

What the employer has to do

The employer contributes nothing to SKBBK. It deducts the amount from the employee's wages and pays it to PERKESO each month, for every foreign worker and for every local employee who is a participant. The wage definition is the one in section 2(24) of Act 4, so it excludes statutory contributions, travel allowances, special expenses, gratuity on retirement or termination, and the annual bonus.

• Use PERKESO's bracket schedule. Configure the deduction against the published contribution table. A raw 0.75% of exact gross salary will usually differ from the scheduled amount.
• Give it its own payslip line. A label such as SOCSO SKBBK (LINDUNG 24 JAM) keeps it distinct from the Employment Injury and Invalidity lines, so employees can see the new deduction on its own.
• Check who opted out. PERKESO notifies the employer when an employee opts out, and the ASSIST Portal's Contribution Module marks each employee who did not opt out with a # symbol. Once an employee's opt-out is on record, deducting SKBBK from them is as much an error as failing to deduct from a participant, unless they have since opted back in. June 2026 is the exception: every employee owes the June contribution, including those who opted out. Where an opt-out makes contributions from July 2026 onward refundable, only the employer can claim the refund, through the ASSIST Portal.
• New hires still get a choice. Register each new employee on the ASSIST Portal. If a new local employee chooses to opt out, submit a Notice of Release of Liability for them before the first month's contribution is deducted. If they do not opt out, they are a participant from the start, and PERKESO's "Once In, Always In" rule applies.
• Pay by the 15th. Contributions for any month are due no later than the 15th day of the following month, through the ASSIST 2.0 portal by Financial Process Exchange (FPX) online payment, direct debit, internet banking, or a counter at an appointed bank.

What it costs to get wrong

PERKESO charges interest on late contributions at 6% a year for each day the payment is late. Failing to deduct for a participating local employee or a foreign worker is an offense in its own right: on conviction, imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to RM10,000, or both. PERKESO gives employers a six-month grace period from June 1, 2026, when the scheme came into force. During it, employers are exempt from penalties and legal action for non-compliance with SKBBK contributions, but every other obligation under the law still applies.

Sources for this section: PERKESO's contribution payment page ↗ and its LINDUNG 24 Jam FAQ ↗, questions 6, 7, 10 to 13, 15, 16, 28, 32, 33, 35 to 37, 42, and 43, both read September 22, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does SKBBK stand for, and what is the SKBBK EMPLOYEE line on my payslip?

SKBBK is Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja, which PERKESO renders in English as the Non-Employment Injury Scheme and brands as LINDUNG 24 JAM. A payslip line reading SKBBK EMPLOYEE, EMPLOYEE NEI, or SOCSO SKBBK is your share of it, and it is the whole cost, because there is no employer share for this scheme. It started on June 1, 2026, so it shows up as a new line of its own on the payslip.

How much is the SKBBK deduction, and how is it calculated?

0.75% of monthly wages during Phase 1, which runs from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2028. The figure comes from PERKESO's 65-band contribution schedule, so it moves in steps as your wages cross from one band to the next, and most bands are RM100 wide. Wages are capped at RM6,000, so the deduction stops rising at RM44.65 a month however much you earn above that. The table in section 2 has the common bands.

Is SKBBK compulsory, and can I still opt out?

It is compulsory for foreign workers and voluntary for local employees, and it has been since the Cabinet decision of July 8, 2026. Voluntary here means enrolled by default, with the right to opt out. For existing employees, the opt-out declaration was open on the Portal LINDUNG Faedah from July 13 to August 31, 2026, and that window has closed. If you did not opt out by August 31, you are treated as a participant, and PERKESO's "Once In, Always In" rule keeps you in the scheme. A new local employee can still opt out before their first month's contribution is deducted: the employer registers them on the ASSIST Portal and submits a Notice of Release of Liability. An employee who opted out can also opt back in, using the Participation Status Update Form (Opt-Out to Opt-In) on PERKESO's scheme page.

What does SKBBK cover?

Accidents that are not connected to your job: at home, during personal travel, and during personal activities. The benefits are reimbursed medical treatment, Temporary and Permanent Disablement Benefit, a RM500 monthly Constant Attendance Allowance where the Medical Board finds it necessary, rehabilitation, Dependants' Benefit, a RM3,000 Funeral Benefit, and an education loan facility for dependent children. Two limits apply. The accident has to happen in Malaysia, and it has to be an accident, so illness and occupational disease are outside the scheme.

How is SKBBK different from SOCSO and EIS?

SKBBK is one of the three SOCSO schemes under Act 4. The Employment Injury Scheme covers accidents arising out of and in the course of employment, including the commute, and the employer pays 1.25% of wages for it with nothing from you. The Invalidity Scheme costs 0.5% from each side for most employees under 60. SKBBK covers the hours the Employment Injury Scheme does not, at 0.75% paid entirely by you. EIS is a separate scheme under the Employment Insurance System Act 2017. It covers loss of employment and costs 0.2% from each side.

Does SKBBK apply to foreign employees working in Malaysia?

Yes, and for them it is mandatory. The July 2026 change made the scheme voluntary for local employees only, and PERKESO counts permanent and temporary residents as local employees. Foreign workers covered by the Employees' Social Security Act 1969 contribute with no election and no opt-out. Their deduction follows the same split as a local employee's: PERKESO's foreign worker page ↗ shows 0.5% for the Invalidity Scheme, which has covered foreign workers since July 1, 2024, and 0.75% for SKBBK. The one exclusion aimed at them is that a claim will not be paid where the worker was misusing a pass or permit, or was doing something that breached the conditions set by the Immigration Department, at the time of the accident.

I am over 60. Does SKBBK still apply to me?

Yes. PERKESO states that there is no age limit on LINDUNG 24 JAM cover for as long as the person is an employee with an employer. Employees aged 60 and over contribute in PERKESO's Second Category, which has no Invalidity Scheme share. The published contribution schedule carries an SKBBK column for the Second Category at the same amounts as the First, so an employee over 60 pays the same RM44.65 at the top band as anyone else. Self-employed people are not eligible for LINDUNG 24 JAM, and PERKESO runs a separate Self-Employment Social Security Scheme (LINDUNG Kendiri) for them.

How do I check that my SKBBK contributions reached PERKESO?

Through PERKESO's PRIHATIN portal or the PRIHATIN app, which show your contribution record. If the deduction is coming off your payslip but not showing on that record, or your employer is not deducting for you although you are a participant, you can lodge a complaint with PERKESO for investigation. PERKESO states that it takes enforcement action against employers who fail to deduct, and the penalty on conviction is up to two years' imprisonment, a fine of up to RM10,000, or both.

As an employer, how and when do we pay SKBBK?

With the rest of the monthly SOCSO contribution, using the same channels and the same deadline. Contributions for any month are due no later than the 15th day of the following month, through the ASSIST 2.0 portal by FPX, direct debit authorization, internet banking, or a counter at an appointed bank. Existing employees need no separate SKBBK registration, because they are already on PERKESO's records under Act 4, and new employees are registered on the ASSIST Portal. Late payment carries interest at 6% a year for each day outstanding.