SSS raises members’ salary credit ceiling

The Social Security System (SSS) has increased the salary credit ceiling of employees earning at least P12,250 monthly, allowing members in the high-income bracket to contribute more, SSS officer-in-charge Miguel Roca Jr. said yesterday.

He said the new ceiling, which took effect last Jan. 1, would effectively increase the amount of loans and benefits which high-income bracket members could avail themselves from the SSS.

"The ceiling, which is called the monthly salary credit or MSC, is important because it is the basis for computing benefits such as maternity, disability and retirement, salary loans and other loan facilities," Roca said in a statement.

The MSC, which was raised from P12,000 to P15,000, would mean higher contributions for those earning at least P12,250 a month.

The increase would range from P17 to P100 on the part of the employees, while the employers’ share would go up from P25 to P152, for a total increase in contributions amounting to a minimum of P42 to a maximum of P252.

The 8.4 percent monthly contribution rate, however, was maintained. The contribution of employees earning monthly incomes ranging from P1,000 and below P12,250 remains the same.

Roca said President Arroyo approved the new MSC based on the recommendation of the Social Security Commission, the SSS’ policy-making body.

The SSS, he said, last increased the maximum monthly salary credit in 1999.