The revised Law on Social Insurance has closely followed 5 major policies and contents to ensure social security - Photo: VGP/LS
5 basic amendments to the Social Insurance Law
According to the assessment of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, after more than 7 years of implementation, the 2014 Social Insurance Law has come into effect, affirming the correctness of the social insurance policy and regime according to the principle of contribution and benefit, meeting the aspirations of the majority of workers, ensuring social security and international integration.
However, in addition to the achieved results, there are also shortcomings, limitations and inadequacies such as: The coverage of participants and beneficiaries of social insurance in reality is still low compared to the potential; compliance with the law on social insurance is still low, there are still cases of late payment and evasion of social insurance payment in many localities and enterprises; voluntary social insurance policies are not really attractive to people to participate; some regulations are no longer suitable to the current context and practical conditions...
Based on the above reasons and requirements, the proposal to amend the 2014 Social Insurance Law is very necessary in the current context.
The representative of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that the major goal of the Social Insurance Law this time will be fundamentally and comprehensively amended to ensure social security for people based on human rights as prescribed by the Constitution and institutionalize the contents of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW in a diverse, flexible, multi-layered, modern, internationally integrated direction, moving towards social insurance coverage for the entire workforce.
Fundamentally amend the difficulties and shortcomings arising from the practical implementation of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance and Resolution No. 93/2015/QH13; ensure constitutionality, legality, consistency, uniformity, feasibility, conformity with international standards and ensure gender equality.
Expand and increase rights and benefits, create attractiveness to attract workers to participate in social insurance; at the same time, ensure the best benefits for working workers and pensioners. Complete State management regulations and a professional, modern, effective, public and transparent implementation organization system.
Some of the revised and supplemented contents of this draft Law on Social Insurance are closely following the 5 policies in the proposal to develop the Law project approved by the National Assembly in Resolution No. 50/2022/QH15, synthesizing the recommendations of National Assembly deputies and voters; comments and suggestions from committees, ministries, branches, localities, people and businesses; referring to international experience to propose amendments and supplements to articles and clauses. Compared to the 2014 Law on Social Insurance, the draft Law has some main changes as follows:
Firstly, supplementing social pension benefits to form a multi-layered social insurance system. Vietnamese citizens aged 75 and over who do not have pensions or other monthly social insurance benefits will receive social pension benefits guaranteed by the State budget. This regulation institutionalizes a step in the policy of "gradually reducing the age of receiving social pension benefits" to strive to achieve the goal of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW that by 2030, about 60% of people after retirement age will receive pensions, monthly social insurance benefits and social pension benefits.
Second, when reaching retirement age, employees who have paid social insurance (including compulsory and voluntary) but are not eligible for pension (less than 15 years of payment) and are not yet old enough to receive social pension benefits (less than 75 years old) can choose to receive monthly benefits depending on the payment period, salary, and monthly income of the employee paying social insurance; at the same time, during the period of receiving monthly benefits, they are entitled to health insurance guaranteed by the State budget.
Third, expanding the subjects participating in compulsory social insurance: The draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) stipulates expanding the subjects of business owners (with business registration), business managers, cooperative managers who do not receive salaries and part-time workers (workers working under flexible working regimes) to participate and fully enjoy the regimes of compulsory social insurance; adding subjects participating in compulsory social insurance for part-time workers in villages and residential groups similar to those for part-time workers at the commune level.
Fourth, supplement the right to enjoy sickness and maternity benefits for part-time workers in communes, wards and towns. The 2014 Law on Social Insurance stipulates that part-time workers in communes, wards and towns participate in compulsory social insurance with two regimes: retirement and death. The draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) stipulates that part-time workers in communes, wards and towns participate in and enjoy all compulsory social insurance regimes like other subjects.
Supplementing maternity benefits to the voluntary social insurance policy. The draft law stipulates that employees participating in voluntary social insurance (including both female and male employees) who give birth and meet the conditions (paying social insurance for at least 6 months within 12 months before giving birth) will receive a subsidy of VND 2,000,000 per child (equal to the level that the State budget is currently supporting for poor women who are ethnic minorities when giving birth in accordance with the population policy). The maternity benefits of voluntary social insurance are guaranteed by the State budget, and voluntary social insurance participants will not have to pay more than at present.
Fifth, reduce the minimum number of years of social insurance contributions to receive monthly pension from 20 years to 15 years to create opportunities for late participants or those who have not participated continuously and have a short period of social insurance contributions to receive pension.
Article 71 of the draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) stipulates that employees who reach retirement age and have paid social insurance for 15 years or more are entitled to receive a monthly pension. This provision is intended to create opportunities for late participants (starting participation at 45-47 years old) or those who participate intermittently, leading to not having accumulated 20 years of social insurance contributions when they reach retirement age, to receive a monthly pension instead of having to receive social insurance in one lump sum.
Amending regulations on one-time social insurance, increasing attractiveness to encourage workers
Particularly regarding one-time social insurance, the draft Law on Social Insurance (amended) has many amendments and supplements in the direction of increasing benefits, increasing attractiveness to encourage employees to reserve their contribution period to receive pension instead of receiving one-time social insurance such as: Easier conditions for receiving pension (reduced from 20 years to 15 years); employees have more options to receive monthly benefits in case they have paid social insurance but are not eligible for pension and are not old enough to receive social pension benefits; during the period of receiving monthly benefits, they are entitled to health insurance guaranteed by the State budget. Regarding the regulation on receiving one-time social insurance, the Drafting Committee currently has 02 options for asking for opinions.
Synthesizing the opinions expressed at the Appraisal Council meeting, Deputy Minister of Justice Dang Hoang Oanh assessed that the content of the Basic Law project is consistent with the Party's guidelines and policies and the State's policies; concretizes the provisions of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW dated May 23, 2018 on reforming social insurance policies, Documents of the 13th National Party Congress; ensures the constitutionality, legality, and consistency of the draft with the legal system; and is consistent with international commitments to which Vietnam is a member.
To complete the draft Law on Social Insurance, Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh requested the drafting agency to explain the basis and basis for proposing regulations on monthly social pension allowance levels (VND 500,000/person/month) and funeral allowance levels (VND 10,000,000) in the draft Law; at the same time, propose assigning the Government to regulate these allowance levels to ensure flexibility and suitability with the actual situation.
Regarding the provisions on the Social Insurance Management Council and the duties and powers of the Social Insurance Management Council, compared to the 2014 Social Insurance Law (Clause 1, Article 94), the draft Law has removed the provisions on the responsibility of directing, supervising and advising on health insurance and unemployment insurance policies of the Social Insurance Management Council; removed the representative of the State management agency on health insurance from the Social Insurance Management Council; and stipulated that the Chairman of the Council is the Deputy Prime Minister. The provisions as in the draft Law may lead to the requirement to establish Unemployment Insurance Management Councils and Health Insurance Management Councils to carry out the above tasks. Therefore, the Deputy Minister requested the drafting committee to clarify and explain the reasons for the proposed amendment of the above provisions.
In addition, the Deputy Minister of Justice emphasized that one-time social insurance is a major policy and a complicated issue; the implementation of this solution may result in a lower one-time social insurance benefit than the current benefit level. Therefore, it is recommended that the drafting agency research, analyze, and carefully evaluate the impact of each option, its own viewpoints, and review and supplement more specific and detailed regulations for Point d, Clause 1, Article 77 of the draft Law; at the same time, strengthen policy communication.
Deputy Minister Dang Hoang Oanh also suggested that the drafting committee consider and adjust some contents such as: Omitting regulations under specialized laws such as those related to inspection, handling of administrative violations, complaints and denunciations; reviewing and adjusting regulations assigned to the Government for guidance; regulating the responsibilities of management agencies to improve the effectiveness of State management in the field of social insurance; supplementing specific regulations for the armed forces.
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