KUALA LUMPUR, A total of 474,982 individuals have contributed to Housewives' Social Security Scheme (SKSSR) through the Social Security Organisation (Socso) as of Sept 30 this year. Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said the number reached 95 per cent of the 500,000 targeted to register for SKSSR this year. He said the flexibility in the method of payment of contributions that can be made either by the husband, the housewife herself, a family member or a third party was identified as one of the contributing factors to the success of the scheme. "The achievement reflects the government's determination to spread social security protection so that it also covers the care economic sector thus giving confidence that the target of SKSSR contributors can be reached by the end of this year," he said when speaking at the Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) Socso 2024 Deepavali Celebration Party at Sentul Perdana Community Centre, here today. Also present were KESUMA secretary-general Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof, Socso chairman Datuk Seri Subahan Kamal and Socso group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed. SKSSR is a social safety net gazetted and offered since December 2022 for women in the care economy sector that provides two main forms of protection, namely Domestic Disaster Protection and Disability Protection, with a reasonable contribution rate of RM10 per month. Meanwhile, Socso said it has received an additional fund of RM86.2 million for Self-Employed Social Security Scheme (SKSPS) contribution matching grants through the SPS Madani and SPS Contribution Matching initiatives. Applications for SPS Madani and SPS Contribution Matching are open until Dec 31 to individuals from 20 self-employed sectors. As of Oct 4, 697,787 individuals contributed to SKSPS with 4,052 claim cases processed and a total benefit payment of more than RM19.2 million. At today's ceremony, KESUMA through Socso brought cheers to 140 orphans and single mothers and distributed benefits to 14 recipien ts with a total value of more than RM118,000. Source: BERNAMA News Agency