How to Compute SSS Maternity Benefits

The maternity benefit is a daily cash allowance granted to a female member who was unable to work due to childbirth or miscarriage.

Qualifications

A member is entitled for a maternity benefit if she met the following qualifications:

1.     She has paid at least three monthly contributions within the 12-month period immediately preceding the semester of her childbirth or miscarriage.

2.     She has given the required notification of her pregnancy through her employer if employed, or to the SSS if separated, voluntary or self-employed member.

The maternity benefit is equivalent to 100 per cent of the member’s average daily salary credit multiplied by 60 days for normal delivery or miscarriage, 78 days for cesarean section delivery.

Procedure of Computation

Step 1

Exclude the semester of contingency (delivery or miscarriage). Semester of Contingency is used to evaluate if a pregnant woman is qualified for SSS maternity benefit. This is a period of 6 consecutive months, or two consecutive quarters or also called as semester. A quarter refers to three consecutive months.

Step 2
Count 12 months backwards starting from the month immediately before the semester of contingency.

Step 3
Identify the six highest monthly salary credits within the 12-month period.

Monthly salary credit means the compensation base for contributions benefits related to the total earnings for the month.

Step 4
Add the six highest monthly salary credits to get the total monthly salary credit.

Step 5
Divide the total monthly salary credit by 180 days to get the average daily salary credit. This is equivalent to the daily maternity allowance.

Step 6
Multiply the daily maternity allowance by 60 (for normal delivery or miscarriage) or 78 days (for cesarean section delivery) to get the total amount of maternity benefit.

Illustration:

A member is giving birth in December 2014, with PHP 581.30 monthly contributions.

The semester of contingency that will be excluded for computation is from July 2014 to December 2014.

The 12-month period before the semester of contingency is from July 2013 to June 2014. This also the period where SSS will base their computation.

The six highest monthly salary credits are PHP 16,000 each (based from PHP 581.30 monthly contribution using SSS Table). Thus, the total monthly salary credits will be PHP 96,000 (P16,000 x 6 months contribution).

The daily maternity allowance will be PHP 533.33 (PHP 96,000/180 days).

The total maternity benefit due will be:
PHP 32,000 (PHP 533.33 x 60 days) for normal delivery or
PHP 41,600 (PHP 533.33 x 78 days) for cesarean case

More Scenarios:

Scenario 1: If a Voluntary Member is giving birth on December 2014 and pays her premium payments from July 2013 to December 2013 that corresponds to the PHP 15,000 salary credit (that means, the member is paying the maximum monthly contribution as voluntary member - PHP 1,560.00 (based on the old SSS schedule), after which the member only pays PHP 550.00 monthly contribution from January to June 2014 which is lower than her previous payments. The computation of her maternity benefit will be:

The semester of contingency that will be excluded for computation is from July 2014 to December 2014

The 12-month period before the semester of contingency is from July 2013 to June 2014. This is also the period that SSS will consider for computation.

The six highest monthly salary credits are PHP 15,000 each (based from PHP 1,560 monthly contribution from July 2013 to December 2013, using the old SSS Table). Thus, the total monthly salary credits will be PHP 90,000 (PHP 15,000 x 6 months contributions.

The daily maternity allowance will be PHP 500.00 (PHP 90,000/180 days).

The total maternity benefit due will be:
PHP 30,000 (PHP 500.00 x 60 days) for normal delivery or
PHP 39,000 (PHP 500.00 x 78 days) for cesarean case

Scenario 2: If a Voluntary Member is giving birth on December 2014. The member missed premium payments from July 2013 to December 2013 but have payments from January to June 2014 with corresponding salary credit amounting to PHP 5,000 (or she has paid PHP 550 monthly) the computation will be:

The semester of contingency that will be excluded for computation is from July 2014 to December 2014

The 12-month period before the semester of contingency is from July 2013 to June 2014. This is also the period that SSS will consider for computation.

The six highest monthly salary credits are PHP 5,000 each (based from PHP 550 monthly contribution from January to June 2014, using new SSS Table). Thus, the total monthly salary credits will be PHP 30,000 (PHP 5,000 x 6 months contribution).

The daily maternity allowance will be PHP 166.67 (PHP 5,000/180 days).

The total maternity benefit due will be:
PHP 10,000 (PHP 166.67 x 60 days) for normal delivery or
PHP 13,000 (PHP 166.67 x 78 days) for cesarean case

Scenario 3: If Voluntary Member is giving birth on December 2014. She have premium payments from July 2013 to September 2013 with PHP 5,000 salary credit (that means she has paid PHP 520.00 monthly contribution, based from old SSS schedule). Then, for some reason, the member failed to pay for the succeeding months. The computation will be:

The semester of contingency that will be excluded for computation is from July 2014 to December 2014

The 12-month period before the semester of contingency is from July 2013 to June 2014. This is also the period that SSS will consider for computation.

The six highest monthly salary credits are PHP 5,000 each (based from PHP 520 monthly contribution using old SSS Table). Thus the total monthly salary credits will be PHP 15,000 (PHP 5,000 x 3 months contribution).

The daily maternity allowance will be be PHP 83.33 (PHP 15,000/180 days).

The total maternity benefit due will be:
PHP 5,000 (PHP 83.33 x 60 days) for normal delivery or
PHP 6,500 (PHP 83.33 x 78 days) for cesarean cases.

Note: As the requirement needs to have at least three (3) months contribution within the 12-month period preceding the semester of contingency, the member still qualifies for the benefit. Also, the higher your monthly contribution payment is, the higher maternity benefit you will get.

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