SANED (Unemployment Insurance)

What SANED is

SANED (ساند) is the name the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) uses for its unemployment insurance programme (التأمين ضد التعطل عن العمل). The instrument behind it is the Unemployment Insurance Law (نظام التأمين ضد التعطل عن العمل), issued by Royal Decree M/18 dated 12/3/1435H, together with its Implementing Regulation. That law now has a defined reach. Clause Fourth of Council of Ministers Decision No. 1022 keeps the Unemployment Insurance Law in force for the subscribers that Clause Second of the same decision leaves outside the Social Insurance Law issued by Royal Decree M/273: those with contribution periods before that law took effect for which they have not been compensated, and those already entitled to a pension under the earlier laws. For a subscriber under the Social Insurance Law, unemployment insurance is governed by Articles 43 to 49 of the Social Insurance Law. The rules set out below are those of the Unemployment Insurance Law and its Implementing Regulation, and where the Social Insurance Law states a different age, condition, floor or penalty, the relevant section says so.

Article 2 of the Unemployment Insurance Law settles where SANED sits: unemployment insurance is a branch of social insurance. That has a direct consequence for an employer. SANED has no separate registration, no separate file and no subscription to opt into. It runs on the establishment’s registration with GOSI, and the wider system it belongs to is set out under social insurance.

SANED and the Arabic word for support

The name SANED shares an Arabic root with «المساندة», a descriptive word meaning support or assistance, as in the administrative support professions named in localisation decisions. SANED is the proper name of one programme. The descriptive word has no connection with this branch or with its provisions, and the resemblance lies in the root alone.

Who SANED covers: Saudi workers, under Article 3 of the Unemployment Insurance Law

Article 3(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Law applies the law compulsorily to all Saudi workers, without distinction of sex, provided that the worker is under the age of fifty nine when the law first applies to them. Article 3(2) of the Unemployment Insurance Law stops the subscription when a subscriber still in work reaches sixty. Article 3(3) of the Unemployment Insurance Law, subject to those two limits, extends the law to whoever is compulsorily subject to the pensions branch. For a subscriber under the Social Insurance Law, Article 43(1) of the Social Insurance Law applies the branch compulsorily to all Saudi workers working inside the Kingdom who are under sixty four when the law first applies to them, and Article 43(2) of the Social Insurance Law stops the subscription when a subscriber still in work reaches the statutory pension age.

Article 2 of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation lists excluded classes. They include state employees on the civil or military retirement systems, workers in other Gulf Cooperation Council states who fall under the unified scheme extending insurance protection, agricultural, forestry and herding workers, seafarers and domestic workers. The same Article provides that three of these exclusions, those for agricultural workers, seafarers and domestic workers, may be lifted by a ministerial decision with the approval of GOSI’s board. They are therefore not to be described as permanent. In the sources we reviewed, we found no decision lifting any of them.

The SANED contribution rate, and the instrument that set it

GOSI currently publishes the SANED rate as 1.5% in total, 0.75% on the employer and 0.75% on the subscriber, under its heading for the contribution rates of the new social insurance system of 1445H (checked on GOSI’s awareness platform on 23 September 2026). The instrument behind that figure is known. The Social Insurance Law (نظام التأمينات الاجتماعية), issued by Royal Decree M/273, sets the SANED contribution at 2% in Article 44(1) of the Social Insurance Law, and Article 44(2) of the Social Insurance Law allows that rate to be amended by decision of the Council of Ministers within a band of 0.5% to 2%, with the employer and the subscriber bearing half each. Acting under Article 44(2) of the Social Insurance Law, paragraph (6) of Clause Third of Council of Ministers Decision No. 1022 set the SANED contribution at 1.5% of the contributory wage from the law’s entry into force, borne half by the employer and half by the subscriber. So a reader who opens the Social Insurance Law and finds 2% is looking at the starting figure in Article 44(1), which the decision adjusted under the power in Article 44(2).

The Unemployment Insurance Law carries a separate mechanism. Article 7 of the Unemployment Insurance Law provides that contributions are set by decision of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, on the Minister’s proposal after the opinion of GOSI’s board, at between 0.5% and 2% of the contributory wage, with the employer paying half and the subscriber half each month. Article 3 bis of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation adds a review rule: the rate is revised every three years on the branch’s financial assessment, falling by 0.5% where its assets exceed seven times the previous year’s expenditure and rising by 0.5% where they fall below that, and only within the same band.

That mechanism governs the rate for the subscribers to whom Clause Fourth of Decision No. 1022 keeps the Unemployment Insurance Law in force. For subscribers under the Social Insurance Law, the rate follows Article 44 of the Social Insurance Law and the decision made under it. In the sources we reviewed, we found nothing stating whether the review in Article 3 bis of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation has ever moved the rate, or when a next review would fall, and we found no decision moving the rate under Article 44(2) of the Social Insurance Law since that law came into force. A bare figure of 0.75% therefore needs its date and its source beside it. The dated tables for every branch are set out under GOSI contributions.

What SANED asks of an employer

1. Applying the law and its regulation from the day their conditions are met, under Article 4(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Law.
2. Registering with GOSI under the social insurance registration and contribution rules, which is sufficient under Article 4(2) of the Unemployment Insurance Law and Article 3(1)(a) of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation. There is no separate SANED registration.
3. Paying the employer’s half of the contribution each month, under Article 7 of the Unemployment Insurance Law and Article 4 of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation.
4. Supplying the Ministry (الوزارة) with the information it requests about the subscriber’s employment and the reasons the relationship ended, under Article 10(3) of the Unemployment Insurance Law.
5. Admitting inspectors, who may examine records of work, worker numbers and wages and how those wages are computed and paid, under Article 22 of the Unemployment Insurance Law.

The recorded reason for leaving decides SANED: Article 9 of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation

Under Article 9 of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation, what counts in deciding why the employment relationship ended is the reason the employer entered when removing the subscriber, as recorded in GOSI’s records. A subscriber who disputes that reason may go to the labour courts, and this is without prejudice to GOSI’s right to impose the penalties of Article 25 of the Unemployment Insurance Law on an employer in breach.

So the field completed when an employee is removed from GOSI is not clerical work. It is what is examined later when a former employee’s entitlement is assessed, and recording it inaccurately is a violation that carries a penalty.

SANED provisions that protect the subscriber

• Article 18 of the Unemployment Insurance Law. It provides that an employer’s failure to pay contributions does not defeat the beneficiary’s entitlement. Non payment is the establishment’s exposure, not the employee’s.
• Article 26 of the Unemployment Insurance Law. It makes void any agreement or settlement that harms subscribers’ rights or places additional obligations on them.

SANED penalties are a separate tariff: Article 25 of the Unemployment Insurance Law

Under Article 25 of the Unemployment Insurance Law, an employer who breaches any provision of the law or of its regulation is liable to a fine not exceeding SAR 10,000. The ceiling is doubled on a repeat, and the fine multiplies with the number of subscribers involved. It is imposed by the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development or by the Governor of GOSI, according to jurisdiction. An objection may be lodged within thirty days of notification, and no fine is imposed for a violation five years old or more. This is the tariff of the Unemployment Insurance Law. A breach of the Social Insurance Law or of its Implementing Regulation falls instead under Article 59 of the Social Insurance Law, with a fine not exceeding SAR 50,000.

This tariff is separate from the Labor Law’s Schedule of Violations and Penalties (Ministerial Decision No. 112377). The two tariffs have different ceilings, different rules on multiplying a fine, different authorities imposing it and different routes of objection, so placing a figure from one inside a table of the other mixes two sources.

When a subscriber is entitled to SANED: Article 8 of the Unemployment Insurance Law and the regulation’s definitions

Article 8 of the Unemployment Insurance Law sets eleven conditions, all of which must hold for an unemployed subscriber. The subscriber must be a Saudi national; must have completed the contribution periods set in Article 14 of the Unemployment Insurance Law; must not have been dismissed for a reason attributable to them; must have no income from work or from a private activity; must not have left work of their own free will; must be able to work; must not have reached sixty; must be registered with the Ministry; must be genuinely seeking work; must attend the training the Ministry specifies; and must comply with the Ministry’s instructions. For a subscriber under the Social Insurance Law, Article 45 of the Social Insurance Law sets ten conditions instead, among them that leaving work was not due to the subscriber’s unwillingness to continue in it and that the subscriber has not reached the statutory pension age.

Article 6 of the Unemployment Insurance Implementing Regulation defines three of the terms used in these conditions, and a claim can turn on any of them:

• Dismissed for a reason attributable to the subscriber. It refers to dismissal on one of the grounds in Article 80 of the Labor Law, that is, dismissal without an award, and not to every termination by the employer. Those grounds are set out in our guide to Articles 80 and 81 of the Labor Law.
• Leaving work of one’s own free will. It expressly includes resignation, a mutual agreement to end the contract and the non renewal of a fixed term contract at the worker’s wish.
• Having no private activity. It is defined broadly: owning a sole establishment, being a partner in a company, holding an activity licence, or having workers who are not Saudi under one’s own sponsorship, with domestic workers, parents, a spouse and children excepted.

So the condition that removes entitlement is not termination of service as such but a description fixed by the text. This is where the employer’s duty to record the reason for leaving meets a financial effect on a former employee.

SANED contribution periods and the registration deadline

Article 14 of the Unemployment Insurance Law sets the required contribution periods on a rising scale by the number of the claim: 12 months within the thirty six months before a first claim, 18 months within the thirty six months before a second, 24 within the thirty six months before a third, and 36 months within the forty eight months before any later one. Article 46(1) of the Social Insurance Law sets the same four thresholds for its own subscribers. Because the requirement rises, one year of contributions is not the condition in every case.

Article 10(1) of the Unemployment Insurance Law places a deadline on the subscriber: registering with the Ministry within ninety days of leaving the covered work. Entitlement then begins, under Article 9 of the Unemployment Insurance Law, on the first day of the month after the conditions of Article 8 of the Unemployment Insurance Law are met. Under the Social Insurance Law, Article 45 of the Social Insurance Law leaves the deadline for that registration to its Implementing Regulation. The Unemployment Insurance Law sets amounts and periods of entitlement but states no processing times for claims, and in the sources we reviewed we found none published.

How much SANED pays: a worked example

Articles 11 to 13 of the Unemployment Insurance Law base the compensation on the average monthly contributory wage over the last twenty four months, being the total divided by 24. The rate is 60% for the first three months and 50% thereafter, with a ceiling of SAR 9,000 a month in the first three months and SAR 7,500 after them. The maximum duration is twelve months for each entitlement, continuous or intermittent, and no more than twelve months within any continuous twenty four months from the date of the first payment.

Suppose the total contributory wages over the last twenty four months come to SAR 288,000. The average is 288,000 divided by 24, which is SAR 12,000:

• First three months: 12,000 at 60% is SAR 7,200 a month, below the SAR 9,000 ceiling, so it is paid as calculated.
• Remaining nine months: 12,000 at 50% is SAR 6,000 a month, below the SAR 7,500 ceiling.
• Total for the year: (7,200 × 3) + (6,000 × 9) = 21,600 + 54,000 = SAR 75,600.

The two ceilings are consistent with each other: SAR 9,000 is 60% of SAR 15,000, and SAR 7,500 is 50% of the same SAR 15,000. Both ceilings take effect at the same average, and an average above it does not raise the compensation. The same provisions also set a floor: where the amount falls below the job search allowance (إعانة البحث عن عمل), it is raised to that allowance, but not beyond 100% of the average contributory wage. Article 48 of the Social Insurance Law sets the same rates, average and ceilings for its own subscribers and does not contain that floor.

What SANED is not: the end of service award

The word award does not appear in the Unemployment Insurance Law or its regulation. SANED compensation and the end of service award are separate obligations, with separate sources and separate payers. The end of service award under Articles 84 to 88 of the Labor Law is paid by the employer out of the employer’s funds and falls due when the relationship ends for any reason, and its arithmetic is set out under end of service calculation. SANED compensation is paid by GOSI from the branch’s account and is due only when every condition of Article 8 of the Unemployment Insurance Law is met.

The two systems point in opposite directions on the same event. A Saudi employee who resigns may be entitled to none, part or all of the award under Article 85 of the Labor Law, which scales the award on resignation by length of service, and is entitled to no SANED compensation, because the regulation’s definition of leaving work of one’s own free will names resignation expressly. Resignation itself is covered in our guide to resignation under Article 79 bis of the Labor Law.

Article 19 of the Unemployment Insurance Law lists what SANED compensation may be combined with, including lump sum and one off compensation under the occupational hazards and pensions branches, occupational hazards annuities and a family member’s pension. The end of service award is not on that list because it is not an insurance benefit at all, not because it is barred, and reading its absence as a prohibition is an error of inference.

The provisions relied on are those of the Unemployment Insurance Law and its Implementing Regulation as published by GOSI (Articles 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 to 13, 14, 18, 19, 22, 25 and 26 of the law; Articles 2, 3(1)(a), 3 bis, 4, 6 and 9 of the regulation), Articles 43, 44(1) and (2), 45, 46(1), 48 and 59 of the Social Insurance Law as published in the Umm Al Qura official gazette, with Clauses Second and Fourth and paragraph (6) of Clause Third of Council of Ministers Decision No. 1022, for the reach of each law and the current rate, and the Saudi Labor Law (نظام العمل) as published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (Article 80 for the grounds of dismissal without an award, and Articles 84 to 88 for the end of service award, including Article 85 on resignation). Royal Decree M/44 of 1446H amended the Labor Law. That decree did not amend Articles 80 or 84 of the Labor Law.

Who decides a SANED claim

The body that decides whether an unemployed subscriber is entitled is not the body that receives the contributions. The Ministry and the Human Resources Development Fund verify the conditions on seeking work and on training, while GOSI registers subscribers, collects contributions and pays the compensation. So a question about the conditions on seeking work or on training is for the Ministry or the Fund, and one about contributions or payment is for GOSI.

This is an explanation of the concept and of the statutory provisions cited, not legal advice.

Related terms

• Social Insurance (GOSI)
• GOSI Contributions
• End of Service Calculation
• Layoff
• Outplacement