Plan to raise SSF payments turned down

Plan to raise SSF payments turned down

The social security board has rejected a request by the national wage committee to lower employer and employee contributions to the Social Security Fund.

The board reached the decision at a meeting held on Tuesday, Social Security Office (SSO) secretary-general Suradej Waleeittikul said yesterday.

The wage committee had proposed the board lower the contribution to reduce the financial burden on the employers and their employees. The committee proposed two solutions: cutting the contributions for a full year or suspending payments of the contribution for six months, he said.

The board, however, rejected both proposals for fear that reduced contributions would undermine the fund's financial sustainability.

Upon endorsing a proposal to raise the minimum daily wage to between 308 baht and 330 baht, which comes into effect on April 1, the wage board decided to ask for the reduction of financial contributions.

The wage committee was concerned that the pay hike would be a financial burden on employers, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), he said.

The board did not believe the increased burden on employers would result in significant lay-offs or cause them to struggle with a rise in costs, including more payments to the SSF.

Despite rejecting the proposal to lower the contribution payment rates, the board asked the SSO to speed up its submission of a social investment project aimed at helping the SMEs to deal with the impact of the wage hike.

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