(Source: Viet Nam Social Security) 

With the goal of total social insurance (SI) coverage for all workers, the Social Insurance Law 2014, which came into force from January 1, 2016, is expected to address shortcomings and limitations of previous social insurance policies as well as difficulties in implementation. The new law has supplemented and amended several key regulations:

Expanding SI coverage

The Law will cover almost all employees. From January 1, 2018, persons working under labour contracts of a definite term from full one month to under three months, including foreign employees working in Vietnam, will be compulsory social insurance participants.

More benefits to members

- Sickness benefits:

From 2016, daily allowance for sickness benefit is calculated on the basis of monthly sickness allowance divided by 24 days. An employee suffering from an accident (non-work accident) shall be entitled to sickness benefit (excluding those caused by drug abuse). For long-term illnesses, the maximum duration for sickness allowance will be equal to the employee’s social insurance premium payment. The maximum duration for child caring benefit in a year for each child is 20 working days if the child is under three years old and 15 working days if the child is from three to seven years of age.

- Maternity benefits:

An employee taking maternity leave shall be entitled to maternity benefit if she has at least 12 months contribution, in which at least three of those months are within 12 months prior to giving birth. The employee who gives birth shall be entitled to maternity leave benefit for six months before and/or after giving birth and one extra month maternity leave benefit if the employee gives birth to twins or more.  Surrogate mothers, intended mothers and insured male employee whose wife gives birth will now also be able to enjoy maternity benefits.

- Old-age benefit

Employees having worked in coal mining or having HIV-AIDS due to occupational accidents shall be entitled to old-age benefits at early retirement age.

People with fatal diseases, people on monthly old-age benefits and monthly SI allowances settling abroad shall be entitled to a lump-sum SI payment. The lump-sum is 1.5 times the average monthly wage and increases to two months for each contribution year from 2014 onwards.

Adding several regulations on SI fund

a) Increase SI premium

This is the most critical change in the Law on SI. Before the new law, employees contributed their premiums based on basic wage. From January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017, the monthly income for SI contributions is based on wage and allowances. From January 1, 2018, the monthly income is wage, allowances and other additional income.

b) The method of voluntary SI contribution

Insured persons can contribute a lump-sum amount for several following years or for the remaining years. In addition, they can resume SI contributions to compensate for the time in temporary discontinuation.

Strict regulations on SI implementation

The Law on Social Insurance 2014 specifies responsibilities of the Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Minister of Finance, People’s Committee at levels; rights and responsibilities of trade unions, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organisations. It also assigns responsibility for inspections for social insurance, health insurance and unemployment insurance premium contributions to social security agencies.

The Government of Vietnam is strengthening cooperation and exchanging experiences with international donors and partners to realise its policy objectives. One of the most important parts of these efforts is the ongoing negotiations between Vietnam and other countries in developing framework agreements on double social insurance avoidance since foreign employees working in Vietnam will be compulsory SI participants from January 1, 2018. In the future, Vietnam Social Security as the implementor of SI policy nationwide will work with related ministries and sectors to research and develop an implementation plan of framework agreements, including the negotiation and signing of memorandums of understanding to implement agreements on social insurance with other countries to ensure social security rights for Vietnamese workers abroad and foreign workers in Vietnam.

International Cooperation Department