On July 1, 2021, the Government issued Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP on a number of policies to support employees and employers facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To concretize this Resolution, VSS has joined with ministries and branches to submit to the Prime Minister (PM) for promulgation of Decision No. 23/2021/QD-TTg dated July 7, 2021 regulating the implementation of a number of policies to support employees and employers hit by the pandemic; in which 3 policies are directly related to Vietnam's social insurance industry, including: reduction of premiums for occupational accidents and diseases; suspending contributions to the retirement and survivorship fund; training and maintaining jobs for employees. In addition, the Industry also confirmed 6 other practical support policies such as: Support for employees to suspend, terminate labor contracts, stop working, or take unpaid leave; support employers to borrow capital, and pay stoppage wages to employees.

And to direct and unify the implementation in the whole sector, VSS has established a Steering Committee for the implementation of Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP dated July 1, 2021 of the Government. The Steering Committee is responsible for directing and coordinating with relevant agencies inside and outside the industry to promptly implement policies to support employees and employers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic within the scope of responsibility of Vietnam's social insurance industry.

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On July 8, 2021, VSS issued Official Letter No. 1988/BHXH-TST guiding the implementation of Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP and Decision No. 23/2021/QD-TTg. On 9/7/2021, VSS held an online conference in the whole industry from the central government to the district-level social security agency to drastically grasp, uniformly and synchronously deploy for businesses and employees in the fastest and most effective way.

Accordingly, VSS assigns specific tasks and decentralizes, and takes clear responsibilities throughout the system. Heads of units directly under the VSS, Directors of social security agencies of provinces and centrally run cities, based on their functions and tasks, shall strictly implement them and take responsibility before the General Director for the implementation of Decree No. Decision No. 68/NQ-CP, Decision No. 23/2021/QD-TTg in the spirit of: Creating maximum conditions; simple, cutting procedures, processing time for documents without additional administrative procedures and other requirements than the PM's Decision and Official Dispatch. To ensure funding for employers to promptly implement policies to support training and retraining to improve professional qualifications and skills to maintain jobs for employees. To immediately adjust the payment rate equal to 0% of the salary fund as the basis for paying social insurance contributions to the fund for occupational accidents and diseases. By July 16, 2021, the procedures have been completed; notices of the amount obtained due to the reduction of contribution to the fund for occupational accidents and diseases (from July 2021 to June 2022) were sent to employers to support employees in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Determining that the large amount of tasks, while the requirement for completion time is as soon as possible to promptly support employees and employers, VSS has quickly directed the IT Center to immediately implement the provisions of Decision 23/2021/QD-TTg on professional software and soon provide public services on the Public Service portal of the Sector and the National Public Service portal. Thereby, helping the Vietnam's social insurance industry to be proactive in approaching people in need of support; reduce the time to receive and process dossiers. Social security agencies of provinces and cities also promote electronic transactions, delivery of documents via the postal system, and limit direct contact, especially in localities that are applying social distancing to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic.

In addition, VSS also requires the whole industry to promote communication, answering, supporting and consulting so that employees and employers acquire knowledge about support policies; strengthen guidance, answer questions and related problems.

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Completing the policy of reducing contributions to the occupational accident and disease fund for more than 375,000 businesses so that employers can support over 11.2 million workers in the fight against COVID-19

With that spirit, social security agencies of provinces and cities across the country have been actively implementing solutions to facilitate and best support employees and employers facing difficulties due to COVID-19. Immediately after receiving the guidance and direction of VSS, social security agencies at all levels coordinated with relevant sectors to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue a plan or document to implement Resolution No. 68/NQ -CP of the Government, Decision No. 23/QD-TTg of the PM. Social security agencies of provinces and cities have also issued documents to employers on the implementation of support policies as guided in Official Letter No. 1988/BHXH-TST of VSS.

In particular, by July 16, 2021, the Vietnam's social insurance industry has completed the policy of supporting the reduction of the contribution rate by 0% to the occupational accident and disease insurance fund, thereby helping businesses have more proactive plans and conditions to overcome difficulties and support workers in the fight against COVID-19. By the end of July 16, 2021, social security agencies of provinces and cities have completed the procedures and sent notices to 375,335 employers, equivalent to 11,238,437 employees with the temporarily adjusted amount that has been reduced (from July 2021 to June 2022) of about VND 4,322 billion. In which, Ho Chi Minh City is the locality with the largest number of businesses and employees supported in the country with 101,356 businesses, equivalent to more than 2.3 million supported workers; The total amount of support is more than 1,000 billion VND. Following is Hanoi city with over 87,000 enterprises with more than 1.4 million employees; the total amount of support is over 640 billion VND. Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Nghe An, Da Nang, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, etc. are also localities with a large number of businesses and employees supported to reduce contributions.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the most affected locality in this 4th wave of COVID-19, the city social security agency has stepped in with great determination and efforts. Accordingly, in order to provide timely support to employers and employees affected by COVID-19, the city social security agency adjusted the processing time for dossiers from 2 days and 4 days to 1 working day: support the employer in training and retraining to improve professional qualifications and skills in order to maintain jobs for employees, confirm the list of employees who have temporarily suspended contracts or stopped working; suspending contributions to the retirement and survivorship fund. Besides, the city social security agency also organizes working outside of business hours to speed up the processing of documents.

In Hanoi, the city social security agency has established a Steering Group for the implementation of Resolution No. 68/NQ-CP to urge and accelerate the implementation of policies to support disadvantaged employees and employers. In the process of receiving and processing dossiers, the Hanoi Social Security Office requires social security agencies of districts to uphold the sense of responsibility, create the most favorable conditions, and reduce the maximum time for employees and workers to receive timely support.

In Dong Nai province, the locality has nearly 11,000 businesses with more than 750,000 employees who are eligible for support to reduce contributions to the occupational accident and disease insurance fund. Immediately after receiving the guidance of the VSS, the provincial social security agency seriously and urgently coordinated with the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue documents for implementation in the area. The provincial social security agency also established a steering committee to closely follow the employers for advice and guidance. The provincial social security agency sent a notice and issued a decision to reduce the contribution to the occupational accident and disease insurance fund to all employers in the area with a total support of more than 330 billion dong.

In addition to implementing the policy of reducing contributions to the occupational accident and disease insurance fund, at present, social security agencies of provinces and cities also guide and receive dossiers of settlement of the policy of suspending contributions to the retirement and survivorship fund; settle policies to support employers in training, fostering and improving vocational skills to maintain jobs for employees according to their competence and confirm the lists: list of employees' support suspending labor contracts, taking unpaid leave; support employees to stop working; support employees to terminate labor contracts but are not eligible for unemployment benefits; support the employer to borrow capital to pay the stoppage salary, or pay the salary to restore production according to regulations.

It can be seen that the support policy under the Government's Resolution 68/NQ-CP is massive, not only providing urgent solutions in the present but also helping workers and businesses with the necessary support for them to continue to do business, be able to overcome the difficulties of the epidemic. Aware of the importance, significance and value of the support policies that the Government is determined to implement for businesses and employees to overcome difficulties caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, the whole VSS industry decided to wholeheartedly agree with the best efforts to urgently bring support policies to employees and employers; contribute to repel the epidemic, realize the Government's dual goals of both effective epidemic prevention and promotion of socio-economic development./.