Overview
Sickness benefit is one of the benefits of being an active SSS (Social Security System) member. This is computed as your daily cash allowance paid for the number of days you were unable to work due to sickness or injury. So if you were confined either at hospital or at home due to sickness or injury for at least four (4) days, you can avail such benefit. This benefit indeed is really of great help in cases we are temporarily unable to work and financially incapacitated. To avail this benefit, employed members should notify their employer about their sickness while self-employed, voluntary and OFWs and those separated from employment need to inform SSS directly thru online application.
Once we have notified SSS about our sickness, it somehow eases our worries of getting unpaid due to sickness leaves however knowing that we are eligible to receive sickness benefit from SSS, we then feel optimistic to fill up the SSS Reimbursement form. And most probably we are curious about how much we will receive then from SSS. So this blog will only focus on the computation of our sickness benefit.
But before we proceed, let’s check if you are qualified first to avail one. Here’s the list you need to meet as requirements:
Qualifications To Avail Sickness Benefit
- The member is unable to work due to sickness or injury and is confined either in a hospital or at home for at least four (4) days.
- The member has paid at least three (3) months of contributions within the 12-month period immediately preceding the semester of sickness or injury.
- The member has duly notified the SSS, directly of the fact of the sickness of injury.
- For employed employees, the members should had used up all his sick leaves with pay.
Now, here’s the step-by-step procedure on how to compute your SSS Sickness Benefit:
How To Compute Your SSS Sickness Benefit
The table below is my sickness benefit computation for my leaves during my hernia operation. This computation is based on the procedure stated in SSS Sickness Benefit guide. Let’s discuss the step-by-step procedure on how we arrived on these numbers:
Step 1
First, let’s discuss how the SSS CONTRIBUTION SCHEDULE table works and take my SSS account (as EMPLOYEED) for example. I will be using the contribution table effective for 2019 and 2020 since this was the applicable table for my sickness case. (See below latest and effective as of April 2019). If you need to download the latest table for your reference case, you can get it from here. Note that it is important that you get the latest table from SSS as this may get updated or changed from time to time but it should be applicable to your date of sickness. Likewise, SSS contribution similar on below depends on the type of employee you are (e.g. Employed, self-employed, voluntary member, non-working spouse, OFW or Kasambahay)
First thing to do is to define and determine your MSC (Monthly Salary Credit). MSC is not your monthly salary from your company but rather your compensation base for contributions and benefits related to the total earnings for the month. This is established by the SSS itself which can be seen in the same table above. So for me, since my monthly compensation/salary falls within the range of ₱19,750 and above (first column), therefore my corresponding MSC is ₱20,000.00 (second column).
Now let’s discuss further my SSS account for example here. My salary falls in the range of the last row of the table which is ₱19,750 – Over. With this range, the total contribution that is remitted to SSS by my employer is ₱2,430.00. From this ₱2,430.00, only ₱ 800.00 is deducted from my salary monthly (₱ 400.00 per cut off) and ₱ 1,630.00 is from my employer (₱1,600.00 + ₱30.00) share wherein the ₱30.00 is employer’s compensation contribution.
From the 2019 contribution rate table (see below), the 12% of my MSC (Monthly Salary Credit) (₱20,000.00) is ₱2,400.00 which is the total contribution. This is the actual amount which goes in my SSS contribution online account. The remaining ₱30 from ₱2,430.00 is a fee. Likewise, the 4% of my MSC (₱20,000.00) is ₱800.00 which is my share from the total contribution while the 8% of my my MSC (₱20,000.00) is ₱1,600.00. Adding ₱30.00 to this will become ₱1,630.00.
Step 2
Next is to determine your Semester of Contingency. Semester of contingency is the two (2) consecutive quarters ending in the quarter of sickness. For best explanation, see table below for corresponding Semester of Contingency for individual month when your sickness has started. For example, if your sickness started on May 2020, your semester of contingency would be the 1st and 2nd quarter of 2020.
In my part, I was confined to hospital from December 27, 2020 to January 25, 2021 thus my semester of contingency falls in in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2020 which is from July 2020 to December 2020. Using Excel software or just a scratch paper, tabulate the months with corresponding MSC for your semester of contingency.
Step 3
This semester of contingency will be excluded from our computation. Instead, count 12 months backwards starting from the month immediately before the semester of contingency. Tabulate your corresponding MSC for each month. In my case, my twelve-month period falls within July 2019 to June 2020.
Step 4
From this 12-month period, select the six (6) highest MSC and sum it up to arrive at the total MSC. In my case since all are just the same I just multiplied it by 6 so that was ₱20,000 X 6 = ₱120,000.
Step 5
Then next is to get the Average Daily Salary Credit (ADSC). This is done by dividing the total MSC by 180 days. In my case, that is ₱120,000 / 180 = ₱666.67
Step 6
Next is to get the Daily Sickness Allowance which is done by multiplying the ADSC by 90%. In my case that is ₱666.67 * (90/100) = ₱600.00
Step 7
Then lastly, to get the total amount of benefit you will receive, just multiply your Daily Sickness Allowance by the approved number of days by SSS. In my part, that is ₱600.00 x 30 days = ₱18,000.00. Below is the confirmation of receipt of advance payment of my sickness benefit. This approved days can be seen from the documents you submitted and returned by SSS. This days is not necessarily the days written by your doctor. SSS has its own doctor which approves if your days are correct or not.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the maximum benefit a member can get?
According to SSS, the maximum days that can be granted to an SSS member within one calendar year is 120 days. Any unused portion of allowed days sickness benefit cannot be carried forward nor added to the total number of allowed compensable days for the following year. The sickness benefit shall be paid for not more than 240 days on account of the same illness. If the sickness or injury still persists after 240 days , then the claim will be considered as a disability claim.
How does the member receive the sickness benefit?
Once your sickness benefit is approved, your employer should provide you the advance payment equal to the sickness benefit amount. Once you received it, you should confirm the receipt through your SSS account. Then once the SSS received your confirmation, the SSS will reimburse the payment to your employer.
For self-employed and voluntary members including the OFWs and those separated from employment, the benefit claims will be mandatorily disbursed through the qualified payee’s Unified Multi-purpose Identification (UMID) card enrolled as ATM card. Without these, payment will be made thru participating banks under the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Disbursement Facility via PESONet, E-Wallets or accredited RTCs/CPOs. So if you haven’t enrolled yet any bank account or e-wallet to your SSS disbursement account, here’s your guide. Upon crediting by SSS of your sickness benefit claims, you will be notified thru email or SMS. This crediting of benefit payments will be made within five (5) banking days from the date of settlement.
Final Thought
If you are employed, you should not burden yourself on this since this computation is done by your HR or attending Doctor/nurse of your company. However you can still use this procedure to double check your benefit claim or know it ahead of time. And most importantly, in computing your SSS Sickness Benefit, always download and refer to the updated and latest SSS contribution schedule here. The latest 2021-2022 contribution table has now added feature of Mandatory Provident Fund which applies only to a certain range of compensation. Regardless of this, the computations and formula are still the same.
To know more about your benefits of being SSS member just read here about the Social Security Act of 2018.
Now that you know how to compute your SSS Sickness Benefit, here’s your guideline on how to apply for SSS Salary Loan using your mobile SSS application. Salamat mga Kabutingting!
Maari pa po ba ako makakuha g sickness leave kung lumagpas na po ako sa date 3months n po ksi ako ngayong buwan pwede pa po ba ako makapagfile salamat po sa sasagot 🙏
Hi Jessica, I’m afraid you won’t be able do it now. You need to inform your HR or Social Security System (SSS) about your sickness leave within five calendar days from the start of your illness or injury to qualify for the SSS sickness benefit. It’s important to notify them promptly to ensure that your claim for benefits is processed efficiently.