LINDUNG 24 Jam (SKBBK): What Malaysian Employers Must Do

A new line appeared on Malaysian payslips in June 2026, and five weeks later the rules changed. If you deducted LINDUNG 24 Jam from every employee and have not touched it since, your payroll is almost certainly wrong now, because the scheme stopped being compulsory for local staff in July.

This guide covers what LINDUNG 24 Jam is, who has to pay it, who can opt out, and what the change means for a monthly payroll run. It is written for the person who has to produce the file, not for a policy discussion.

What LINDUNG 24 Jam is

LINDUNG 24 Jam, formally the Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja or SKBBK, is PERKESO’s Non-Employment Injury Scheme. It is the fifth statutory line on a Malaysian payslip, alongside EPF, SOCSO, EIS and PCB.

Existing SOCSO cover under the Employment Injury Scheme applies to accidents arising out of and in the course of employment. LINDUNG 24 Jam extends protection to accidents that happen outside working hours and are not related to the job. PERKESO defines a non-employment injury as:

a personal injury to the employee caused by accident not arising out of and in the course of his employment in an industry to which this Act applies

In practice that means an employee injured in a road accident on a Sunday, rather than on the commute to work, now has a route to cover. Medical treatment costs are financed by PERKESO.

Who pays, and how much

This is the part that differs from every other statutory deduction, and it is the detail most often got wrong. Contributions are borne entirely by the employee. There is no employer share. The employer’s role is to deduct and remit on the employee’s behalf for as long as that person remains employed.

The employee rate is not fixed. It rises in three phases.

Phase	Period	Employee rate	Employer rate
Phase 1	First two years	0.75%	nil
Phase 2	Next three years	1.0%	nil
Phase 3	Sixth year onwards	1.25%	nil

Most published guides mention only the 0.75% figure. The escalation matters for anyone modelling staff cost beyond the current financial year, because the employee’s take-home pay falls again in year three and again in year six without any change to gross salary.

The change: voluntary for local employees

The scheme took effect from June 2026 salary. In July 2026 the position changed for Malaysian employees. PERKESO now states:

It is no longer compulsory for local employees. Instead, participation is voluntary, and the contributions are fully borne by the employees. However, it remains mandatory for foreign workers in accordance with existing legal provisions.

So the operative rule for payroll is short:

• Foreign workers: mandatory. No opt-out.
• Local employees: voluntary. Each person decides, and can change their mind.

Press reporting at the time put the Cabinet decision in the second week of July 2026, with PERKESO opening an opt-out facility within days, and indicated that contributions already made for June were not refunded. Confirm the specific dates and any refund question directly with PERKESO, since those details were reported rather than published in the guidance we can cite.

Why this is harder than a rate change

A rate change is a single edit. You update one number and every employee is correct again.

A voluntary deduction is a different shape of problem. The value is no longer a property of the payroll rule. It is a property of each individual employee, it can differ between two people on identical salaries, and it can change in the middle of a year when someone submits a form.

Three things follow for whoever runs payroll.

You need a per-employee status, stored somewhere durable. Not a note in an email thread. If an employee opts back in on the 20th, the payroll run on the 25th has to reflect it, and nothing in a spreadsheet will tell you that it did not.

Your local and foreign staff now follow different rules in two of the five deductions. Foreign workers contribute EPF at 2% under Part F and LINDUNG 24 Jam is mandatory for them. A single deduction rule applied across a mixed workforce will be wrong for one group or the other.

The audit question changed. Previously you had to show the correct rate was applied. Now you have to show the employee’s election was recorded and honoured. That is a documentation obligation, not a calculation one.

Opting out and opting back in

PERKESO publishes a Participation Status Update Form covering the move from opt-out to opt-in, and a separate procedure for employees who have more than one employer, which determines which employer remits on their behalf. The operational detail sits in Employer Circulars No. 1, 2 and 3 of Year 2026, including the contribution text file format employers use to submit.

Circular No. 3 specifically covers implementation of the scheme and employer selection for contribution payment purposes, which is the multi-employer case. If you employ part-timers who also work elsewhere, that is the document to read.

What LINDUNG 24 Jam does not cover

Worth knowing before you field the question from an employee deciding whether to opt in.

• Accidents happening outside the territory of Malaysia
• Insured persons who are foreign workers misusing valid passes or permits issued by the Director General of Immigration, or breaching entry conditions under the Immigration Act 1959/63
• Self-employment injuries, which fall under Act 789
• Domestic injuries, under Act 838
• Conditions caused by illness, such as diabetes, fever or high blood pressure

That last exclusion is the one employees misread most often. The scheme covers accidents, not illness.

What it costs an employee

At Phase 1, an employee earning RM4,000 a month contributes about RM30. On RM6,000 it is about RM45. Those figures rise by a third in Phase 2 and by two thirds in Phase 3, on the same salary.

Monthly wage	Phase 1 (0.75%)	Phase 2 (1.0%)	Phase 3 (1.25%)
RM2,000	about RM15	about RM20	about RM25
RM4,000	about RM30	about RM40	about RM50
RM6,000	about RM45	about RM60	about RM75

Contributions follow PERKESO’s schedule rather than a plain multiplication, so treat these as the size of the number and take the exact figure from the official contribution schedule. The same principle applies across Malaysian statutory deductions, and it is most consequential for EPF, where KWSP does not permit percentage calculation at all below RM20,000.

Frequently asked questions

Is LINDUNG 24 Jam compulsory?

For foreign workers, yes. For local employees, no. Participation became voluntary for Malaysian employees in July 2026, and contributions are borne entirely by the employee.

Does the employer contribute to LINDUNG 24 Jam?

No. There is no employer share. The employer deducts and remits on the employee’s behalf.

What is the LINDUNG 24 Jam rate?

0.75% of the employee’s wages in the first two years, rising to 1.0% for the next three years and 1.25% from the sixth year.

What is SKBBK?

Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja, the Malay name for the Non-Employment Injury Scheme. SKBBK and LINDUNG 24 Jam refer to the same scheme.

Can an employee opt back in after opting out?

Yes. PERKESO publishes a Participation Status Update Form covering the opt-out to opt-in change.

Does it cover accidents at work?

No. Accidents arising out of and in the course of employment are covered by the existing SOCSO Employment Injury Scheme. LINDUNG 24 Jam covers accidents outside that, and does not cover illness.

Sources

Checked 14 October 2026.

• PERKESO, Non-Employment Injury Scheme (LINDUNG 24 Jam), including contribution phases, voluntary status and exclusions, and Employer Circulars No. 1 to 3 of Year 2026
• PERKESO, Contribution Rate
• PERKESO, Contributions, for SOCSO and EIS alongside this scheme

Next step

The practical problem LINDUNG 24 Jam creates is not the arithmetic. It is holding a per-employee election, which differs between local and foreign staff and changes mid-year, and having the monthly submission reflect it without someone remembering to check.

Smart Salary keeps employee records and the payroll run on the same data, so a per-employee attribute such as a scheme election is held once rather than re-entered each month. It supports the statutory deduction workflow described here, including different treatment for local and foreign staff. [VERIFY]

If you want to see it against your own payroll, book a demo with our Malaysia team. For the other four deductions, start with the EPF, SOCSO, EIS and PCB calculation guide, and for year-end filing see the EA Form, Form E and CP8D guide.

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Statutory schemes and rates are updated periodically. Confirm current figures and dates with PERKESO before running payroll. Last reviewed 14 October 2026.