Director of Quang Nam Social Security Office Nguyen Thanh Danh delivers a report at the conference

Following a report by the Vice Chairman of Quang Nam Province’s People’s Committee Ho Quang Buu on the achievements and shortcomings after the five-year implementation of the 12th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No 28-NQ/TW dated May 23, 2018 on social security policy reform, Quang Nam Social Security Office put forward significant issues related to the implementation of social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance policy in the locality.

Specifically, Quang Nam Social Security Office recommended Quang Nam Party Committee to consider the issuance of an Instruction on strengthened leadership and direction for the implementation of policies and laws on social insurance and health insurance in the locality, enabling the provincial Social Security Office and relevant departments, sectors and local authorities to synchronously implement social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance policies to incentivise local people and businesses.

An overview of the conference

Director of Quang Nam Social Security Office Nguyen Thanh Danh said by December 31, 2022, the province had 194,067 people joining the social security system in the province, accounting for 25.77 per cent of the total working-age population. However, he said, the number of participants in the compulsory social insurance scheme has fallen behind targets set and not tapped into the available potential.

According to the data collated with the tax authority and actual surveys in 2022, there are currently 10,003 active businesses in the locality with total employees of 306,265. Among them, 4,967 businesses have participated in compulsory social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance for 184,406 labourers. But among these businesses, up to 2,787 units have not participated in full insurance mechanisms for labourers. Therefore, plus employees belonging to businesses that have not yet participated in insurance mechanisms for their employees, the total number of employees that have not joined the compulsory social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance system in the province reaches 121,859.

The surveys indicate numerous reasons that lead to units and enterprises not participating in compulsory social insurance, namely: employees work on short-term and seasonal contracts; employees do not want to participate in social insurance because of a 10.5 per cent deduction; irregular work; part-time work, hourly work, daily work; businesses do not want to join; businesses say they are struggling; labourers work less than one month; labourers get paid less than VND2 million monthly; employers and employees reached an agreement not to purchase insurance; among others.

Regarding voluntary social insurance which has been implemented since January 1, 2008 targeting people who are over 15 years old and not eligible to participate in compulsory social insurance, Danh said, by December 31, 2022, there were 21,574 participants, accounting for 2.87 per cent, surpassing 1.87 per cent of the set target. However, it does not reflect the reality. If taking into account all those who registered to participate voluntary social insurance for the first time, the figure reaches nearly 34,000 people.

According to the official, decreased income of the participants and their relatives due to the COVID-19 has led to reduced number of voluntary social insurance participants. Besides, it is really difficult   to persuade the participants who have had their work interrupted to stay put in the insurance system. Reality shows that, the number of people withdrawing one-time social insurance benefits in recent is quite large, significantly affecting the goal of achieving the percentage of participants after the retirement age.

In the 2018-2022 period, Quang Nam Social Security Office settled the one-time social insurance claims for 70,020 people, or 14,004 people on average annually. In the meantime, the number of remaining participants in the system slowly increased from 178,253 in 2018 to 194,067 in 2022. Additionally, violations of the law on social insurance still occurs, especially prolonged delays in social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance premium contributions, greatly affecting the legitimate rights and interests of employees. However, there have not been specific penalties or solutions for businesses that are unable to pay the arrears and enterprises whose owners fled or have gone missing, causing insecurity in the locality.

Under such circumstances, Director of Quang Nam Social Security Office Nguyen Thanh Danh said the in the coming time, the sector will continue reinforcing the dissemination and communication on the laws on social insurance and health insurance; enhance the quality of communication among each target group of potential participants; intensify specialised inspections of insurance contributions, inspecting and deal with organisations and units that have not paid or fully paid social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance premiums for employees activities; and reorganise the communication models to encourage people to join the voluntary social insurance scheme./.