Up to 454 out of 465 National Assembly deputies vote in favour of the Law on Social Insurance (revised). Photo NT

The Law on Social Insurance (revised) consisting of 11 chapters, 141 articles will take effect as of July 1, 2025.

Prior to the vote, member of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairwoman of the NA Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh presented a report explaining and refining the draft Law on Social Insurance (revised) based on comments. Accordingly, on the afternoon of June 28, the Government issued Report No 347/BC-CP, which basically agreed with the draft Law that had been commented on and refined. Basically speaking, the draft Law has received the consensus of the Government and relevant agencies, qualified to be submitted to the NA for consideration and approval at the 7th meeting.

The draft Law has fundamentally institutionalised the guidelines and viewpoints of Resolution 28-NQ/TW dated May 13, 2018 on reforming the social insurance policies and the Documents of the 13th National Party Congress; addressing existing shortcomings of the Law on Social Insurance 2024; towards building a progressive, converging and international-standard Vietnam’s social insurance system.

Regarding social retirement benefits (Chapter III from Article 21 to Article 24): There were suggestions that a specific roadmap should be developed to lower the age entitled to social pension allowances; the regulation that localities based on local socio-economic conditions, budget capability, and social resources to build their own policies should be abolished.

According to the National Assembly Standing Committee, in order to build a roadmap to reduce the age for social retirement benefits, it is necessary to have a full assessment of both socio-economic impacts, state budget capability, and the overall impact on encouraging people to participate in social insurance to have pension when they retire. Clause 3 of Article 21 of the draft Law stipulates: “the National Assembly Standing Committee decides to gradually adjust the age entitled to social pension benefits based on the Government’s proposal in line with the socio-economic conditions and the state budget capability at each period.”

 Chairwoman of the NA Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh. Photo quochoi.vn

Clause 1, Article 22 stipulates the procedure for local authorities to review and decide on additional support for recipients of retirement benefits; the Government considers the socio-economic conditions, the state budget capability and other resources to increase the level of social retirement benefits. Therefore, it is necessary that the National Assembly maintain the content as proposed in the draft law.

Regarding the average salary used as the basis for social insurance contributions to calculate pension benefits and one-time allowances (Article 72) and the adjustment of average salary used as the basis for mandatory social insurance contributions (Article 73): there was a suggestion to thoroughly assess the impact of wage reform, and the address the differences of pension benefits for those who retire before and after July 1, 2024.

Fundamental, long-term solutions needed to support participating workers struggling in life

Regarding the conditions for one-time social insurance benefits (Point đ, Clause 1, Article 70 and Point đ, Clause 1, Article 102): During the discussion session in the NA Hall, 18 deputies chose Option 1, seven deputies chose Option 2, five deputies proposed other options. Some opinions suggested that regulations should be established to ensure the rights of workers but not encourage them to receive one-time social insurance benefits in order to continue their contributions to ensure social security when they reach the old age.

Based on the opinions, the NA Standing Committee requested permission from the NA to amend the draft Law according to Option 1, which is the option chosen by the majority of NA deputies and is also the option preferred by the Government when submitting it to the 15th National Assembly’s 6th session. Accordingly, workers who have contributed to social insurance before the effective date of the Law, have terminated their participation, have not belonged to the mandatory social insurance group for 12 months, and have contributed to social insurance less than 20 years, can request to receive lump-sum social insurance benefits.

 The NA deputies vote to approve the revised Law on Social Insurance. Photo quochoi.vn

Chairwoman of the NA Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh said, although there are provisions regarding lump-sum withdrawals, the NA Standing Committee highly recommends workers to prolong contributions to social insurance to enjoy long-term social security. Thus, the NA Standing Committee advises the Government to (i) Develop fundamental, long-term solutions to support participating workers facing short-term difficulties in their lives, such as introducing appropriate credit policies; (ii) Continue reviewing, supplementing and improving legislation on labour and employment to enable workers to have stable employment; (iii) Promote communication to raise the workers’ awareness of the benefits of receiving monthly pensions and the disadvantages of choosing lump-sum social insurance benefits, and enhance inspections and penalties for violations of social insurance regulations.

Regarding the issue of delayed and evaded contributions to mandatory social insurance and unemployment insurance: (as stated in Article 38 and Article 39), it is crucial to implement measures to address violations related to the delayed and evaded contributions to mandatory social insurance and unemployment insurance (Article 40 and Article 41).

Regarding the settlement of pensions and death benefits for employees in cases their employers are unable to fulfill their obligation of paying social insurance premiums (Article 41 of the draft Law submitted to the NA for discussions on May 27, 2024): There was a suggestion to consider establishing separate guidelines instead of directly incorporating them into the Law in order to ensure proactive adjustment and appropriate supplementation of the target group based on practical conditions, and to avoid the misuse of the state budget.

09 new points in the draft Law

Chairwoman of the NA Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh said the revised draft Law consists of 11 chapters, 141 articles, (an increase of one chapter and five articles compared to the draft Law submitted by the Government; and an increase of two chapters and 16 articles compared to the current Law) and nine new points, including:

First: Stipulate that social pension is ensured by the State partly based on the inheritance and development of regulations on monthly social subsidy for the elderly.

Second: Demonstrate interconnection in the social insurance system by stipulating monthly subsidy for the period before reaching the age of enjoying social pension allowance. During this subsidy period, healthcare insurance is provided by the state.

Third: Expand the mandatory social insurance coverage.

Fourth: Increase benefits for social insurance participants, such as reducing the minimum number of years of social insurance contributions required to receive monthly pension; voluntary social insurance participants are entitled to maternity benefits.

Fifth: Allocate a separate chapter to regulate the collection and contribution of social insurance premiums; clarifying the content and handling of delayed and evaded contributions.

Sixth: Specify the “reference level” instead of the “base salary”.

Seventh: Provide more specific regulations on investment from and management of the social insurance fund, as well as the approval and appraisal of organisational expenditure settlement and social insurance operations.

Eight: Simplify administrative procedures related to social insurance, electronic transactions, and assessment of people’s satisfaction with the implementation of social insurance policies and regimes.

Ninth: Supplement provisions on international cooperation and clarify the state management responsibilities of the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.