How does SHA calculate my premium if my income changes every month?

SHA does not use month-to-month bank flows. It uses the Means Testing Instrument at afyayangu.go.ke to estimate household income from composition, housing, services, assets, education, and employment. Reassess when your circumstances change materially rather than monthly.

What income should a boda rider declare?

Declare your realistic average monthly take-home after fuel, maintenance, and any daily rental to the bike owner. Include seasonality (Nairobi rains, town-market days). Do not declare gross fares before costs. The Means Testing Instrument is qualitative, not receipts-based, but honest disclosure matters at reassessment.

Can I pay SHA quarterly or annually instead of monthly?

Yes. Lipa SHA Pole Pole at sha.go.ke/lipa-pole-pole lets non-salaried Kenyans pay the first four months upfront then spread twenty months across daily, weekly, or monthly M-PESA Ratiba instalments. No interest, no extra charges.

What is the minimum I will pay if my income is very low?

KES 300 per month is the SHA-published floor. Anyone whose 2.75% assessment lands below KES 300 pays the floor, per sha.go.ke/premium-rates, accessed 26 August 2026.

SHA for informal + self-employed + freelancers Kenya 2026

Who this page is for

You are not on anyone's payroll. Maybe you drive a boda, run a shop, farm, freelance, do gig work, or juggle three side hustles. Your income is real but variable. SHA still expects you to pay every month. Here is how it works, honestly.

For a specific breakdown of the KES 300 floor for households with genuinely no income, see SHA for the unemployed. The line between the two guides is that this page assumes you earn something.

The Tier 2 mechanic

SHA has two tiers only. Tier 1 is salaried Kenyans whose 2.75% comes off gross via payroll. Everyone else is Tier 2, and Tier 2 is assessed via the Means Testing Instrument at afyayangu.go.ke [Source 1].

The instrument is a questionnaire, not a bank-statement scan. It asks about:

Household composition (number and ages of members)
Housing type and ownership
Water, electricity, and sanitation services
Assets (livestock, land, vehicle, business)
Education level of the household head
Employment status of household members

SHA runs the answers through a scoring algorithm it does not publish, then outputs your monthly premium. Full context in our means testing explainer. The rate is 2.75% of assessed household income, floored at KES 300, uncapped upward [Source 2].

What to declare when income is unstable

Variable income is the friction point. A boda rider might clear KES 1,200 on a busy Saturday and KES 200 on a rainy Tuesday. A freelance graphic designer might book KES 90,000 in March and KES 12,000 in April. What do you declare?

The Means Testing Instrument does not ask you to enter a monthly figure directly. It infers from your household profile. But when it does ask about employment or business, the honest answer is your realistic average take-home over a normal year, after your direct costs. Practical guidance by trade:

Boda riders: Take a typical week's takings, subtract fuel, minor maintenance, and any daily rental if you rent the bike. Multiply by 4.3 for a monthly figure. Do not use gross fares.
Shopkeepers and mama mboga: Use monthly net margin, not turnover. If you turn over KES 60,000/month at a 25% margin, declare KES 15,000, not KES 60,000. Include any second-earner in the household.
Freelancers with lumpy income: Take your last twelve months of receipts, subtract genuine business costs (software, subcontractors, travel), divide by twelve. Do not use your best month.
Farmers: Annual net after inputs, divided by twelve. A one-off harvest income is monthly income spread across the year for this purpose.
Multiple hustles: Add the streams. If you drive a boda mornings and sell airtime evenings, the SHA figure is the combined average, not one or the other.

Register once, then pay monthly

Register at sha.go.ke/register using your National ID and a Safaricom number.
Log into afyayangu.go.ke, complete the Means Testing questionnaire (30 to 45 minutes).
Note the monthly premium SHA outputs.
Pay monthly to M-PESA Paybill 200222, account number your National ID, digits only, no spaces.
Confirm the payment posts on afyayangu.go.ke within 24 to 72 hours. If it does not, follow the payment not reflecting guide.

Lipa SHA Pole Pole for uneven cash flow

If a monthly lump sum is difficult to time against your income, SHA has published Lipa SHA Pole Pole for non-salaried Kenyans. Per sha.go.ke/lipa-pole-pole (accessed 26 August 2026) [Source 3]:

Two-year plan.
Four months' premium paid upfront.
Remaining twenty months spread across daily, weekly, or monthly instalments via M-PESA Ratiba, *147#, or *254# (Hustler Fund).
No interest, no extra charges.
Full annual cover starts on enrolment.

For a boda rider whose Means Testing outputs, say, KES 600/month, that is KES 2,400 upfront, then roughly KES 20/day, KES 140/week, or KES 600/month for the balance. The daily option is popular in the informal sector because it maps to daily takings.

Mid-year income changes

The default reassessment cadence is annual, but a material change to your household triggers reassessment sooner. Examples:

You take a formal salaried job. You move from Tier 2 to Tier 1, and payroll starts remitting.
You lose the formal job. Reassess at afyayangu.go.ke to move back into Tier 2 at the correct rate.
A new dependant joins the household (birth, marriage, elderly parent). Update coverage.
An adult child leaves the household or a spouse's income changes materially.
You acquire a business, vehicle, or land.

Log into afyayangu.go.ke and request a reassessment. Do not wait for the annual prompt if your circumstances have shifted meaningfully, because arrears calculated on the wrong figure are harder to unwind later.

Common pitfalls

Confusing turnover with income. A mama mboga turning over KES 3,000/day is not earning KES 3,000/day. Declare margin.
Skipping a bad month. Coverage lapses if you go months without contributing. Even KES 300 keeps you active.
Paying to the wrong account. The account is your National ID, not the payer's. If a family member is helping, they enter your ID, not theirs. See payment not reflecting.
Ignoring a mid-year household change. A new spouse's income, a plot inheritance, a shop opening, these all matter.
Waiting for a hospital visit to sort SHA. Registration and Means Testing take days, sometimes weeks in busy periods. Get it done now.

Sources

SHA Means Testing overview: sha.go.ke/means-testing, accessed 26 August 2026.
SHA premium rates (2.75%, KES 300 floor, no cap): sha.go.ke/premium-rates, accessed 26 August 2026.
Lipa SHA Pole Pole: sha.go.ke/lipa-pole-pole, accessed 26 August 2026. Two-year plan, four months upfront, twenty months in daily/weekly/monthly instalments, no interest, no extra charges.
SHA member portal afyayangu.go.ke. Registration: sha.go.ke/register. Eligibility: eligibility.sha.go.ke.
SHA toll-free helpline 0800 720 601.