“By the end of this year, a number of violators must be brought to court to recover the late payment of social insurance premiums to ensure the interests of employees and deter other enterprises,” said Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs Nguyen Thuy Anh on September 29 at the committee’s seventh plenary session on the Government's report on the implementation of social insurance policies as well as management and use of the social insurance fund in 2021.

Anh also said that late payment of social insurance premiums is still common, affecting employees' interests.

Therefore, the committee will consider relevant issues to make the amendment to the Law on Social Insurance in the future, she said.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dzung speaks at the session

Speaking at the session, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dzung said it has to issue appropriate solutions to deal with bankrupt enterprises that are unable to pay their social insurance debts.

For other enterprises, which intentionally delay paying their insurance premiums for the Viet Nam Social Security, the ministry will report to the Government and the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs to get direction to handle them.

It is estimated that the irrecoverable debt of social insurance is worth over VND2 trillion (US$83.8 million) and the interest of the amount is about VND900 billion (US$37.7 million), he said.

“It is necessary to use the balance of the social insurance fund to solve the problem to ensure the interests of employees," he said.

General Director of Viet Nam Social Security Nguyen The Manh delivers a speech at the session

Also at the session, National Assembly deputy Nguyen Hoang Mai said by the end of 2021, more than 29,500 enterprises with about 200,000 employees went bankrupt.

The late payment mainly comes from the enterprises that are no longer in operation, so, it needs a practical solution to fix the situation, he said.

National Assembly deputy Nguyen Hoang Mai at the session

Reporting to the committee at the session, General Director of Viet Nam Social Security Nguyen The Manh said the agency has closely worked with relevant ministries and sectors to fix the situation and ensure employees’ interests.

Especially, from January 1, 2022, the agency and the Ministry of Public Security signed a comprehensive coordination regulation to deal with violations relating to intentionally delaying or evading payment of social insurance to the agency, he said.

Accordingly, the ministry and the agency will send coordination teams to localities to handle enterprises, which intentionally delay or evade their payment of social insurance premiums, between October 4 and 18, he said.

Manh said that currently, there are more than 30 million people installing VssID – the agency’s social insurance digital application.

It is believed to be a useful tool to help the agency to supervise the late payment or evasion of social insurance premiums by enterprises from now on, he said.

Besides, the agency will absorb comments of National Assembly deputies at the session to have the most effective solutions to ensure the interests of employees in the future, he said.

Accomplishment

Standing member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs Lo Thi Viet Ha at the session

After the National Assembly promulgated many policies to support employees and employers facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as of December 31, 2021, more than 2,700 enterprises and units were allowed to temporarily suspend their contributions, worth over VND1.8 trillion ($75 million), to the retirement and survivorship fund.

More than 375,000 enterprises and units were allowed to reduce their contributions, worth a total of over VND1.9 trillion ($79.6 million), to the labour accident and occupational disease insurance fund at the same time.

 Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Affairs Do Thi Lan at the session

Over 346,000 enterprises and units were allowed to reduce their contributions, worth a total of over VND2.1 trillion (US$88 million), to the unemployment insurance fund.

The agency also made financial support, worth VND30.8 trillion (US$1.29 billion), from the unemployment insurance fund to more than 12.9 million employees nationwide. 

Delegates at the session

It also made payments to support improving skills to maintain jobs for 1,387 employees in the country with an amount of about VND5 billion ($209,600).

In addition, the retirement and survivorship fund last year made payments to more than 2.18 million people receiving monthly pensions and social insurance benefits, about 4.01 per cent higher than 2020.

In the meantime, the labour accident and occupational disease insurance fund made payments for more than 53,300 people receiving monthly benefits, an increase of 3.92 per cent compared to 2020.