The Finance Ministry has approved the Labour Ministry's proposal to provide leftover budget as a cash handout of 5,000 baht a month to nearly 90,000 workers registered under the Social Security Fund who were affected by the pandemic.
"The Social Security Office (SSO) has submitted a letter to the Finance Ministry requesting additional payment for this group to receive a stipend of 5,000 baht a month, the same amount as self-employed workers," said Labour Minister MR Chatu Mongkol Sonakul. "The finance minister has approved the request."
The SSO expects to start handing out the money within 10 days, he said.
The SSO had sought additional financial assistance for its 86,128 members who worked less than 26 days before losing jobs. The law limits the office to compensating such workers at 62% of daily wages, which for most is less than 5,000 baht a month.
MR Chatu Mongkol said the SSO has ample money to pay all its members who are redundant, though there are as many as 7 million employees who are at risk of job cuts.
The SSO has prepared 160 billion baht for compensation payouts in the event of lost jobs and has given 13.3 billion baht to 863,323 workers.
In another development, the SSO yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Revenue Department to share information about its members, enhancing convenience for both employees and employers.
With the cooperation, employers no longer have to visit SSO offices to ask for documents related to their employee contributions to claim on income tax forms.
The collaboration is in line with a digital transformation to upgrade services to keep pace with taxpayer needs, said Kanittha Sahamethapat, principal adviser on information and communications technology at the department.
Employees covered by the social security system need not gather their contribution documents anymore from the 2019 tax year, she said.
Employees can check their tax-deductible amount through the My Tax Account system on the Revenue Department's website.
The department believes that electronic data connectivity will move the country towards digital transformation, Ms Kanittha said.