The surplus resulting from restructuring in the 2019-2021 period has not been fully resolved.
In Hung Nghia commune (Hung Nguyen district), after the merger (early 2020), there were 12 surplus officials and civil servants. To date, after nearly four years of campaigning, persuasion, and encouragement, six officials and civil servants have been streamlined through early retirement and termination of employment.
According to regulations for a Type II commune like Hung Nghia, the total number of allocated officials and civil servants is 20, while currently the commune has 26 officials and civil servants, of which the number of full-time officials is sufficient according to the "framework" and the rest are civil servants.
Comrade Tran Xuan Hien, Secretary of the Party Committee of Hung Nghia commune, said: "The deadline for resolving the surplus of cadres and civil servants allowed by the Central Government is December 31, 2024, which is just over a year away. The six current surplus civil servants are all under 40 years old, have university degrees, and generally possess intermediate-level political training. Therefore, persuading them to resign is extremely difficult; and forcing them to leave for downsizing purposes would only be possible if they are assessed as failing to complete their duties for two consecutive years. However, currently, the recruitment of civil servants is handled by the district level, and the evaluation and ranking of civil servants are carried out according to the higher-level vertical structure, making downsizing at the grassroots level a difficult issue for the locality."
Hung Nguyen District had the highest number of commune mergers in the province during the period 2009-2021, with 10 communes merged into 5; the number of redundant officials and civil servants was 96. Along with the implementation of deploying regular police officers to communes and the implementation of Government Decree 34 (replacing Decree 92), the total number of redundant officials and civil servants in Hung Nguyen District is 114.
According to Comrade Hoang Nghia An, Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Hung Nguyen District, recognizing the responsibilities of the entire political system, Hung Nguyen particularly emphasizes the role and responsibility of the heads of Party committees and local governments at the commune level in disseminating information and encouraging cadres and civil servants to retire, take leave under the retirement scheme, or transfer to other jobs; this is linked to the serious implementation of annual evaluation and ranking of cadres and civil servants, serving as a basis for streamlining and transferring them to district-level civil servant positions. To date, the entire district has streamlined 92 cadres and civil servants, with 22 remaining surplus personnel.
The current challenge in addressing the issue of surplus civil servants is that their age and length of service are insufficient for retirement under current regulations, and there has been a lack of sufficiently strong policies and mechanisms to encourage this group to transition to other fields.
Comrade Hoang Nghia An - Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Hung Nguyen District
Similarly, in Nam Dan district, 8 communes and towns were reorganized and merged into 3 units, resulting in a total of 93 redundant officials and civil servants. Along with the total number of redundant officials and civil servants due to the reorganization of administrative units, and in implementation of Government Decree No. 34, which brought regular police officers to communes, Nam Dan district has addressed issues such as early retirement, termination of employment, and transfers, and currently has 51 redundant civil servants.
According to Comrade Hoang Nghia Hung, Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Nam Dan District: Currently, resolving the surplus of commune-level officials and civil servants continues to put significant pressure on localities, especially with the deadline for resolving the surplus being December 31, 2024, requiring merged communes to bring in the number of officials and civil servants in accordance with regulations. Meanwhile, the surplus civil servants are not yet old enough or do not have enough years of participation in health insurance; on the other hand, some civil servants do not have job positions that match their expertise, for example, there is a shortage of military or land administration civil servants, but an excess of finance, culture and social affairs civil servants who cannot be assigned to the vacant positions due to a lack of professional qualifications.
Addressing the surplus of commune-level officials and civil servants continues to place immense pressure on localities, with only a little over a year remaining.
Comrade Hoang Nghia Hung - Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Nam Dan District
According to information from the Nghe An Department of Internal Affairs, during the period 2019-2021, Nghe An had a total of 39 commune-level administrative units undergoing restructuring, resulting in 19 communes remaining, a reduction of 20 communes, from 480 to 460 communes. This restructuring and reduction of 20 communes in this period resulted in a surplus of 460 personnel across the province. In addition, the province implemented Decree No. 34, replacing Decree No. 92, and deployed regular police officers to communes, further increasing the pressure of this surplus.
Over the years, Nghe An province has decisively directed and implemented several policies outside of central government regulations to motivate and encourage the resolution of surplus officials and civil servants; as of June 2023, the province still had 127 such individuals. This is a challenging problem that requires the collective effort of the entire political system.
We need strong policies to overcome these difficulties.
It can be said that the issue of surplus officials and civil servants at the commune level is a case of "one layer piling on top of another," because the problem was not fully resolved during the 2019-2021 period, and now the restructuring of district and commune-level administrative units is continuing in the 2023-2025 period.
Accordingly, during the 2023-2025 period, Nghe An province plans to reorganize one district-level administrative unit, specifically merging Cua Lo town into Vinh city, and is expected to reorganize 89 commune-level administrative units. Of the 89 commune-level administrative units planned for reorganization during the 2023-2025 period, the Director of the Department of Internal Affairs, Nguyen Viet Hung, stated that there are nearly 2,000 redundant officials and civil servants; placing a significant burden on the province in addressing this surplus.
Dien Chau District has 17 communes that do not meet both criteria regarding area and population, plus 2 adjacent communes. Therefore, the number of communes expected to be reorganized in the 2023-2025 period is 19, reduced to 9, a decrease of 10 communes, and the number of redundant officials and civil servants after review is approximately 200 people.
According to Comrade Nguyen Xuan Khoa, Head of the District's Internal Affairs Department: The process of resolving surplus officials and civil servants during this restructuring period has become more flexible, such as extending the resolution timeframe to five years. Furthermore, regulations on early retirement for surplus commune-level officials and civil servants due to the restructuring of commune-level administrative units (according to Government Decree No. 29) stipulate that men must be between 52 and 57 years old, and women between 50 and 55 years old.
However, in reality, at the local level, some officials who reach retirement age within the 5-year downsizing period have not yet accumulated 20 years of social insurance contributions; while civil servants are generally young, neither yet reaching retirement age nor having accumulated enough years of social insurance contributions. This poses many difficulties and challenges in disseminating information and mobilizing support to address the surplus workforce.
Therefore, to address this issue, in addition to central government policies, it is suggested that the province should study and issue policies to support the continued payment of insurance premiums for those who have reached retirement age but have not yet completed the required number of years of insurance contributions, so that they can continue to participate in insurance after leaving their jobs. Simultaneously, a sufficiently strong policy should be implemented to support those who have left their jobs in transitioning to new employment.
In Thanh Chuong district, based on Resolution No. 35 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, it is projected that 16 communes and towns will be reorganized into 7 communes and towns, reducing the number of communes by 9 and resulting in a surplus of approximately 161 people, including 74 officials and 87 civil servants.
Comrade Nguyen Cao Thanh - Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Thanh Chuong district, stated that for civil servants, as stipulated in the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants, the State must guarantee their employment; however, for elected officials, many currently hold university degrees or intermediate-level political training, and many possess competence, experience, and a desire to contribute. But if they are not included in the structure by the 2025-2030 Party Congress, they will be forced to retire.
To continue utilizing and promoting the role of this team, the Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Thanh Chuong district proposed that the province study a policy to recruit specialized officials at the commune level in merged communes to become commune or district-level civil servants.
To continue utilizing and promoting the role of specialized commune-level officials after the administrative unit reorganization, it is proposed that the province study a policy to recruit these officials into commune or district-level civil servant positions.
Comrade Nguyen Cao Thanh - Head of the Internal Affairs Department of Thanh Chuong District
It is thought that the province needs to study practical issues to formulate appropriate policies and strategies to effectively address what is considered the most difficult problem in the reorganization of district and commune-level administrative units: resolving the issue of surplus officials and civil servants, ensuring that the requirements and aspirations of officials and civil servants are met to the best of their ability.
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