The increase is a cost of living adjustment and it is dependent on when they first started receiving their disability income.

According to one recipient who asked to remain anonymous, he was pleasantly surprised to see a higher amount had been deposited when he checked his bank account.

“I noticed that I had an increase of almost 10% in my monthly disability income from Socso. When I called Socso headquarters, the officer told me the monthly payment had been increased.

“But the officer also informed me that no decision has been made on whether the increase will be backdated to Jan 1 last year as they had promised, with the arrears to be paid as well. I hope they do pay us the arrears as we are facing tough times,” he told FMT.

The last time Socso increased the disability income was in September 2017. The payments have been made early this month due to the Chinese New Year celebrations this weekend.

Another recipient who was getting the minimum disability income of RM475 per month said it had now been raised to RM550.

“It may mean an increase of only RM75 every month but it means a lot to my B40 household,” he said.

When contacted, a Socso official confirmed that effective Jan 1, the disability income paid out to those eligible had been increased by between 0.7% and 9.4%, depending on the year they first received the payment.

The official said the adjustment in Socso’s regular benefit payments is expected to benefit more than 400,000 existing recipients.

Adjustments to the cost of living for Socso regular benefit payments had been made 10 times under the Invalidity Scheme since 1982, and 12 times under the Employment Injury Scheme since 1977.