Committee. Photo: Quochoi

Addressing a discussion on the draft amended Law on Social Insurance at the 25th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee on August 17, Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Vuong Dinh Hue said the 12th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No 28 on reforming social security policies determines that the establishment of social insurance fund must ensure safety is the top priority.

"Resolution 28 stipulates that when investing in the social insurance fund, safety must come first, sustainability second and then efficiency. It is like no other funds which put efficiency as top priority. Instead of stashing your cash in a bank with high interest rate, we mostly invest in the bond market, especially long-term bonds,” said Chairman Hue.

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He said the social insurance fund is an independent financial fund from the state budget but is connected with the state budget and is the largest concentrated fund, only after the state budget.

"The fund is supported by the state. It used to say about the possibility of a “fund collapse”. I affirm that there is no such prospect because the stat has policies to ensure balance,” the NA chairman said.

Speaking about the reduction in the minimum period of social insurance payment from 20 years to 15 years to be eligible for monthly pensions, NA Chairman Hue said the totally agreed with this regulation, adding that this is a guiding principle of the Party Central Committee.

However, he suggested that it would be ideal if the required minimum period of social insurance contribution can even be reduced to 10 years.

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Because, he said, one of the reasons behind the lump-sum withdrawal is that the minimum period of social insurance payment is too long (20 years).

"During the difficult time, the COVID-19 pandemic, 20 years is too long, so certain labourers choose one-time withdrawal. Therefore, Resolution No 28 states the necessity to adjust regulations related to the enjoyment of pensions in the direction of reducing the required minimum period of social insurance payment from 20 years to 15 years, with a possibility of 10 years," said the NA Chairman.

Regarding the expansion of compulsory social insurance participants, he said a number of new economic models has emerged such as the sharing economy, digital economy, etc. with very different labour relations. So there appear new types of labourers, including technology workers, freelance workers, and distance labourers.

"We need to consider whether to make it compulsory for these groups of labourers to join the social insurance scheme,” he said.

A general view of the session

Concluding the session, NA Standing Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man said the political and practical basis, so the completion of amendments to the draft law must be done soon with high determination.

The NA Standing Vice Chairman called for concerned bodies to continue to study and revise the structure of the draft law more coherently; review to fully stipulate the expansion of compulsory social insurance participants, the management of social insurance fund, retirement benefits, one-time social insurance withdrawal, the evaded and late payment of social insurance premiums, among others.

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The National Assembly Standing Committee assigned the Committee for Social Affairs to organise seminars and workshops to collect public opinion for official verification, contributing to the completion of the draft law and ensuring its highest quality before submitting to the National Assembly.

According to oxfordlearnersdictionaries, social security is a system in which people pay money regularly to the government when they are working and receive payments from the government when they are unable to work, especially when they are sick or too old to work