MUSCAT - The Social Protection Fund (SPF) disclosed its intention to activate sick leave and emergency leave insurance this year, with the mandatory savings system for non-Omani employees to be launched next year and work injury insurance to be applied to non-working employees in 2028. This was revealed by the Social Protection Fund at a media meeting held on Tuesday under the theme: ‘Building a Sustainable System’.

Speakers at the media briefing explained that the social protection system comprises three main components. The first of these is the social protection benefits which are funded by the state treasury and represent the basic social safety umbrella aimed at supporting the most vulnerable groups and promoting social equity. These include benefits for the elderly, children, people with disabilities, orphans and widows and family income support.

The second component comprises social insurance programmes, which rely on contributions from both employees and employers. These programmes cover old age, disability, death, work-related injuries and occupational diseases, job security, insurance of maternity leave, sick leave and other unusual leaves and supplementary programmes.

The third component consists of additional programmes that enhance the financial security of individuals, such as the mandatory savings programme for non-Omani, the voluntary savings programme for Omanis and retirement support programmes.

The speakers emphasised that the social protection system continues to develop its programmes to enhance sustainability and comprehensive coverage. They stated that during 2026, they intend to activate sick leave and other leave insurance, targeting all workers in the Sultanate of Oman. This insurance will require a 1-per cent contribution from the total salary borne by the employer and aims to provide sick leave and other regular leaves for the insured. These leaves will become insurance rights and job allowances.

The meeting addressed the SPF’s services which are provided through an integrated network of channels. These include 11 social protection offices in the governorates, 3 model service centres for direct service delivery and digital services such as the SPF’s online portal, the Himaya (protection) application, the customer care account and the smart call centre. The number of customers served through various digital and non-digital channels reached 333,727 in 2025, averaging 1,264 customers daily.

The media meeting also discussed the SPF’s digital transformation strategy. Indicators showed that digital transformation went up from 81 per cent in 2024 to 89 per cent in 2025. The Himaya application is used by over 194,000 people. A smart call centre was developed based on a customer-centric approach and integrated with various digital and non-digital channels.

The SPF’s statistics presented at the media briefing showed that the number of insured Omanis is approximately 615,174 as of January 2026, while the total number of insured non-Omanis was 1,061,319, bringing the total number of insured people to 1,676,493. The total number of active employers was 137,240. Beneficiaries of child benefits increased from 1,236,501 in 2024 to 1,251,274 in 2025, whereas beneficiaries of elderly benefits increased from 167,687 in 2024 to 174,662 in 2025.

Speakers at the media briefing stressed that the SPF provides services to 64 per cent of the population covered by the social protection system, according to the general indicators for 2025. This translates to a total of 3.3 million people served by the fund. The number of people served by social protection offices in the governorates was 228,274. The number of calls received through the call centre reached 192,258.

The statistics presented at the media briefing showed that the number of active beneficiaries of social protection benefits was 1,552,749 as of the end of January 2026, including 177,051 elderly beneficiaries, 1,251,309 child beneficiaries, 49,906 persons with disabilities beneficiaries, 10,271 orphans and 5,489 widows. The number of beneficiaries who continue to receive social security benefits reached 16,761. A total of 42,016 beneficiaries received the family income support benefit, while indicators for active beneficiaries of social insurance benefits at the end of January 2025 showed that living pensions totalled 97,170, the number of active beneficiaries of death pensions was 100,632, and the number of active beneficiaries of the job security allowance was 684.

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