COVID-19: Thailand's Social Security Office may not extend relief compensation for laid-off subscribers

Thailand's Social Security Office may no longer be extending its relief compensation scheme to subscribers who lost their jobs due to COVID-19.

According to The Bangkok Post, members of the SSO's board had opposed a request by Labour Minister Chatu Mongol Sonakul, on extending the assistance till the end of the year. As stated by the members, the SSO earlier sought additional financial assistance for its 86,128 members who worked less than 26 days before losing jobs.

However, the law limits the office from compensating such workers at 62% of daily wages, which for most is less than 5,000 baht a month.

According to the SSO's board members, the Social Security Fund (SSF) had finished paying compensations for the SSO's 86,128 members three months ago, in a bid to buy time for employers to work on reviving the business and rehiring.

In total, the compensation had amounted to 12bn baht being withdrawn from the fund. A key reason for not extending the compensation was that extending the payout till the end of the year may destabilise the financial standing of the fund, said a board member cited by The Bangkok Post.

That said, further considerations to this matter will be made in the next board meeting on 30 July.

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