LINDUNG 24 Jam is now voluntary for local workers, and the opt-out window closes 31 August 2026. What you pay, what you lose, and what to check first.
Most Malaysians first noticed LINDUNG 24 Jam as an unfamiliar deduction on a June payslip. Since then the scheme has changed shape twice, and a lot of people are now carrying a decision they did not know they had.
Here is where things actually stand. On 8 July 2026 the Cabinet decided that contributions to LINDUNG 24 Jam — officially the Skim Kemalangan Bukan Bencana Kerja — would be voluntary rather than mandatory for local employees, effective immediately. PERKESO then opened a window for workers who want out. That window runs from 13 July to 31 August 2026, and if you do nothing before it closes, you stay in and the deduction continues.
Foreign workers are a separate matter. Their participation remains mandatory under the existing rules.
So the real question before the end of the month is not "what is the deadline". It is: what am I paying, what does it actually buy me, and what would I be left with if I stopped?
What it costs you, in ringgit
The contribution is 0.75% of monthly wages, paid entirely by the employee — employers do not contribute to this one. It applies to wages up to a ceiling of RM6,000.
That gives you a straightforward ceiling on the cost. Someone earning RM3,000 a month is looking at roughly RM22.50. Someone at or above the RM6,000 ceiling tops out at around RM45. Over a year, that is somewhere between about RM270 and RM540 for most working Malaysians.
Worth knowing before you decide: 0.75% is only the first phase. Under the published schedule the rate rises to 1.00% from June 2028 and 1.25% from June 2031.
If you want your own number rather than an example, work out your own contribution with AMANA's LINDUNG 24 Jam calculator, which also carries the full FAQ set in English and Bahasa Malaysia.
What it covers that your work insurance does not
This is the part most people miss when they treat the deduction as just another payroll line.
LINDUNG 24 Jam is built for accidents that happen outside work and outside the course of employment — at home, on a personal errand, during a weekend activity, on a journey that has nothing to do with your job. Work-related injuries already sat inside PERKESO's employment injury framework. This scheme was designed to close the other sixteen hours of the day.
For the mechanics of the benefit structure, we have covered how LINDUNG 24 Jam benefits work in detail elsewhere and won't repeat all of it here.
Four things to check before you decide
1. What do you already have? Many Malaysians are covered under an employer's Group PA scheme and have genuinely never been told. Ask HR. It takes one message and it changes the maths.
2. Does your existing cover work 24 hours, and outside Malaysia? LINDUNG 24 Jam applies to eligible accidents occurring in Malaysia. If you travel for work or holidays regularly, that geographic limit matters. Depending on the plan chosen, Personal Accident insurance can be arranged with wider geographical scope, along with benefits such as accidental death, permanent disablement, accident medical expenses and daily hospital income. Actual benefits, limits and exclusions vary by insurer and policy.
3. What is your occupation class? Private PA pricing and eligibility reflect occupational risk. A despatch rider, a site supervisor and an office administrator are not the same risk, and some activities can be excluded or loaded. If you are in a higher-risk role, cheap statutory cover is worth more to you than it is to a desk worker.
4. Would your family actually be able to cope? Not a rhetorical question. If you were permanently disabled next month, what reaches your household — and from where?
If you decide to opt out
The mechanism is a Notis Pelepasan Liabiliti submitted through PERKESO's portal, and it must be in before 31 August 2026. Two details that catch people out: contributions already deducted for June 2026 are not refunded, and you should tell your employer or HR separately, because the deduction is executed on the payroll side, not by you.
PERKESO has indicated that workers who opt out may rejoin later, and that the scheme as a whole will be reviewed towards the end of the year. Both points are worth confirming directly with PERKESO rather than relying on any third party, including us — the rules here have already moved twice in three months.
If you are the employer
The same deadline is a useful prompt for a benefit-gap review, and a bad prompt for a knee-jerk decision. A Group PA policy is not made redundant by a statutory scheme; it is a separate contract with its own insured sums, its own conditions and its own 24-hour, often worldwide, scope. The honest position is that the two can sit on top of each other or overlap wastefully, depending entirely on how your existing programme is structured.
If you employ foreign workers, note that nothing here changes your obligations under the mandatory foreign worker schemes tied to work permits.
Before your next renewal, it is worth putting Group PA and workmen's protection for employers side by side with what your staff already have, rather than assuming either that statutory cover is enough or that it is worthless.
The decision, reduced
You are choosing whether roughly RM22 to RM45 a month is a sensible price for accident cover during your non-working hours, given everything else you already hold. For some people the honest answer is yes. For others — particularly those already holding a well-structured private PA plan — the money may be better spent elsewhere.
What would be a poor outcome is arriving at 1 September having made the decision by accident.
This article is general educational information, not insurance or financial advice. PERKESO's rules govern LINDUNG 24 Jam and can change; verify current requirements directly with PERKESO. Private insurance is subject to the relevant insurer's terms, conditions, exclusions, eligibility and underwriting.
Not sure whether your existing accident cover already does what LINDUNG 24 Jam does? Compare your contribution and your current protection side by side using AMANA's LINDUNG 24 Jam tool, or speak to a specialist before 31 August.