Over 500K job order, contract gov’t workers now covered by SSS

More than half a million job order (JO) and contract of service (COS) government workers, which are not covered by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), are now under the coverage of Social Security System (SSS).

In a statement on Wednesday, SSS said the JO and COS workers in the government can now enjoy social security benefits under the pension fund’s membership expansion program.

The temporary or contractual government workers were included in SSS’ coverage through the KaSSSangga Collect Program as they were not covered by GSIS programs.

Under the KaSSSangga Collect Program, JO and COS workers will be registered as self-employed members, while their respective organizations shall collect and remit their contributions to the SSS.

Among the many government agencies that entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOU) with SSS under the KaSSSangga Collect Program were the Quezon City District 2 of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). 

The MOU will cover over 200 of the agencies’ JO and COS workers, who are mostly street sweepers.

The largest membership coverage was recorded in Quezon City with around 15,000 JOs.

Prior to the SSS-QC government partnership, the pension fund has already sealed agreements with the Local Government of Mandaluyong, Taguig, and Malabon in 2023.

In January 2024 alone, SSS had sealed partnerships with 32 government institutions in the National Capital Region.

Likewise, an additional 74 program partners from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao also joined the agreements which secured the SSS membership of 2,251 temporary government workers.

SSS collected over P7.08 billion worth of workers’ contributions from 2015 to 2023 under the program. 

Over 2,100 local government units (LGUs) remitted P4.66 billion worth of contributions while almost 700 national government agencies (NGAs) and government owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) paid P2.03 billion during the period.

On the other hand, over 100 state universities and colleges (SUCs) remitted P289.91 million SSS contributions and 86 local water districts (LWDs) paid P97.64 million.—Ted Cordero/AOL, GMA Integrated News