Self-Employment Social Security Act to Apply to Self-Employed Service Providers for Carrying and Delivering Goods and Food from 1 October 2021
28 September 2021
The following subsidiary legislation were gazetted on 21 September 2021 and will come into operation on 1 October 2021:
- Self-Employment Social Security (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2021 [P.U.(A) 371/2021] (‘Amendment of First Schedule Order’);
- Self-Employment Social Security (Rates of Contribution for Persons Carrying Out Service of Carriage and Delivery of Goods or Food) Regulations 2021 [P.U.(A) 372/2021] (‘2021 Regulations’); and
- Self-Employment Social Security (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 [P.U.(A) 373/2021] (‘Amendment Regulations’).
In essence, the above-referred subsidiary legislation will require a self-employed person carrying out the service of carriage and delivery of goods or food (‘Relevant Person’) to register under the Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017 (‘the Act’) and contribute to the Self-Employment Social Security Fund established under the Act, so as to enable him, if he suffers an injury (whether caused by an accident or occupational disease) in the course of his self-employment activity including while travelling for the purpose of his self-employment activity, to claim benefits under the Act.
The rates of contribution and amount of monthly earnings covered which a Relevant Person may select are set out in the 2021 Regulations.
The scope of paragraph 9 of the First Schedule to the Act which inter alia extends the application of the Act to any Relevant Person who provides the services of carriage and delivery of goods or food by means of any vehicle owned, managed, maintained or operated by the Relevant Person has been clarified and expanded by the Amendment of First Schedule Order in the following respects:
- The expression ‘vehicle’ is amended to refer to a ‘motor vehicle’ as defined under the Road Transport Act 1987, i.e. ‘a vehicle of any description, propelled by means of mechanism contained within itself and constructed or adapted so as to be capable of being used on roads and includes a trailer’; and
- The service of carriage and delivery of goods or food may also be provided by a Relevant Person using ‘any other conveyance’ or without using any motor vehicle or other conveyance.
Pursuant to the Amendment Regulations, the Self-Employment Social Security Regulations 2018 [P.U.(A) 326/2018] which,
inter alia, set out the registration requirements and procedures and the benefits accruing to self-employed persons covered under the Act, will be extended to every Relevant Person.
Alert prepared by Foo Siew Li (Partner) of the Employment Law Practice of Skrine.