If your main income comes from Grab trips, delivery runs, or freelance work rather than a monthly payslip, there's a good chance you're supposed to be contributing to PERKESO — and plenty of Malaysians in exactly that position have never registered.
What SKSPS actually covers
The Self-Employment Social Security Scheme, run under the Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017 and branded by PERKESO as Lindung Kendiri, provides the self-employed equivalent of the SOCSO protection salaried employees get automatically through their employer. It covers medical treatment for work-related injury, temporary and permanent disability payments, dependants' benefits if a contributor dies from a covered injury, rehabilitation services, and funeral assistance of up to RM3,000. None of this applies automatically to self-employed Malaysians the way it does to salaried staff — it only kicks in once you've registered and started contributing.
Who actually needs to register
Coverage for passenger transport drivers — taxi, e-hailing, and bus drivers — has been compulsory since June 2017, when the scheme first launched. It was widened in January 2020 to cover 20 sectors altogether, including food services, hawking, construction, online business, IT and data processing, agriculture, and professional and support services, which brings a large share of Malaysia's gig and freelance workforce into scope even outside e-hailing specifically.
That coverage was reinforced further by the Gig Workers Act 2025 (Act 872), in force since 31 March 2025, which formally extended protections — including access to PERKESO — to both platform-based gig workers (e-hailing drivers, delivery riders) and non-platform gig workers in fields like film, music, translation and journalism. If you earn your living through an app-based platform or as an independent freelancer in one of the covered sectors, this scheme is built with you specifically in mind, not as an optional extra.
How to register, step by step
- Go to the Prihatin portal at prihatin.perkeso.gov.my, or download the Prihatin app, which is PERKESO's dedicated channel for self-employed registration.
- Create an account using your MyKad number and basic personal details.
- Select your sector from the listed categories — e-hailing and delivery riders typically register under the passenger transport or courier/logistics categories, while other freelancers pick the closest match to their actual work.
- Upload supporting documents. This usually means a copy of your identity card plus sector-specific proof — a driving licence and e-hailing platform profile for drivers and riders, or a permit, licence, or association letter for other self-employed categories.
- Choose your income class, which determines your monthly contribution amount, and confirm your declaration.
- Make your first payment through the portal. Coverage under the scheme starts from the date and time your contribution is actually paid — not from the date you registered — so a completed registration with no payment yet does not mean you're covered.
What you'll actually pay each month
Contributions scale with your declared monthly income. Based on PERKESO's own published bands, someone declaring around RM1,050 a month pays roughly RM13.10, rising to about RM36.90 at the RM2,950 band and RM49.40 at RM3,950. Higher income bands continue climbing from there, with the scheme capping the maximum insurable monthly income at RM5,000. You can pay monthly, or in advance for a longer period, and an annual advance payment is generally the more reliable way to avoid a coverage gap if your income and free time to log into the portal both fluctuate.
What happens if you don't register
For sectors where registration is compulsory, working uninsured means exactly what it sounds like: if you're injured on a delivery run or driving trip, you have no PERKESO coverage to fall back on for medical costs, lost income during recovery, or disability support, and there's no way to backdate contributions to cover an injury that already happened. For a rider or driver whose income depends entirely on being physically able to work, that gap is the actual risk this scheme exists to close.
FAQ
Is SKSPS the same as EPF?
No. EPF is a retirement savings scheme; SKSPS is closer to work-injury and disability insurance, run by PERKESO (SOCSO) rather than the EPF. Self-employed Malaysians can contribute to both, but they cover different things.
Do I need to register if I only do delivery work part-time?
If your work falls under one of the scheme's covered sectors, registration isn't limited to full-time earners — the requirement is based on the type of work, not how many hours you put into it, though your contribution amount will reflect your actual declared income.
How is my income class determined?
You declare your average monthly income during registration, and the system places you into the corresponding contribution band. If your income changes significantly, you can update your declared class through the portal.
What if I work through more than one gig platform?
You register once as a self-employed individual under the scheme rather than once per platform, and your declared income should reflect your combined self-employment earnings.
Does the Gig Workers Act 2025 make registration compulsory for all delivery riders?
It formally extends PERKESO access to platform-based gig workers as part of its wider protections, on top of the compulsory registration that has already applied to passenger transport drivers since 2017. If you're unsure whether your specific category is compulsory or voluntary, PERKESO's own sector list or the Prihatin portal is the definitive source to check against.
Riders and drivers who've already gone through applying for a PSV licence to drive for Grab are dealing with the same layer of government paperwork here, and this scheme sits alongside rather than replaces protections like claiming EIS after losing a job or claiming SOCSO for a workplace accident as an employee — the self-employed version simply requires you to opt in yourself.
