Mandatory Business Insurance
Insurance the law requires you to carry.
Two covers aren’t optional in Singapore if you employ people: Work Injury Compensation for staff doing manual work or earning below a set threshold, and medical plus bond insurance for every Work Permit or S Pass holder you hire. We work across our panel — NTUC Income, EQ Insurance and QBE — to make sure you’re properly covered, not just technically compliant.
Work Injury Compensation and foreign worker medical & bond insurance are placed across all three insurers, so we can compare terms before recommending a policy.
Two covers the law puts on you as an employer
Whether you need one or both depends on who you employ — we’ll help you work out exactly what’s compulsory for your headcount.
Work Injury Compensation Insurance
Under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), employers must buy insurance for employees doing manual work — regardless of their monthly salary — and for employees doing non-manual work who earn S$2,600 or less a month. This threshold was raised from S$1,600 to S$2,600 on 1 April 2021.
Even where insurance isn’t legally required — non-manual employees earning above S$2,600 a month — you are still required to pay compensation in the event of a valid claim. If a claim is valid, WICA sets the compensation limits — raised again from 1 November 2025: up to S$269,000 for death (minimum S$91,000), up to S$346,000 for total permanent incapacity (minimum S$116,000), and medical expenses up to S$53,000 or one year from the date of the accident, whichever is reached first. These limits apply whether or not you’ve bought insurance — what insurance changes is whether your business pays that compensation out of pocket, or a policy does.
Foreign Worker Medical & Bond Insurance
If you hire foreign employees — Work Permit or S Pass holders — it is required by law to provide them with at least S$60,000 medical insurance and a S$5,000 security bond (for non-Malaysian Work Permit holders). The medical insurance requirement was enhanced from S$15,000 to S$60,000 on 1 July 2023; employers share 25% of claims above the first S$15,000, with insurers covering the remaining 75% up to the S$60,000 ceiling.
This compulsory medical insurance can be incorporated into your company’s Hospitalisation and Surgical insurance programme. We’ll help you design a solution that takes care of both the medical insurance and the security bond required by law for your foreign employees.
The compensation limits, updated
Both thresholds have moved in the last few years — we keep this page current so you’re never under-covered.
Make sure your business is properly covered, not just compliant.
No obligation, and we’ll get back to you within 1 working day. Prefer to talk it through first? WhatsApp us directly.