The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs is seeking comments on draft decrees guiding the conditions and procedures for receiving monthly allowances and social retirement benefits.

According to the draft Decree detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the 2024 Law on Social Insurance on compulsory social insurance, beneficiaries are Vietnamese citizens who are of retirement age and have paid social insurance but do not meet the pension period conditions (less than 15 years), and do not meet the conditions for social pension benefits (70-75 years old).

People who do not receive one-time social insurance and do not reserve social insurance payment time but have a request will receive monthly benefits.

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Currently, there are still about 8 million elderly people nationwide who do not receive monthly benefits, leading to extremely difficult lives. Illustration photo: Chi Hieu.

The duration and level of monthly benefits are determined based on the employee's social insurance contribution period and basis. The lowest monthly benefit level is equal to the social pension benefit level.

In addition to monthly benefits, workers also enjoy free social insurance and funeral expenses upon death, similar to pension benefits.

At the recent conference to disseminate and implement the Trade Union Law 2024 and the Social Insurance Law 2024, Director of the Social Insurance Department (Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs) Pham Truong Giang said that the coverage of social insurance policies in our country still has gaps, currently there are still about 8 million elderly people who have not received monthly policies, leading to extremely difficult lives.

Therefore, the Social Insurance Law 2024 aims to cover these 8 million people, achieving the goal set by Resolution 28 to move towards universal social insurance.

According to Article 24 of the new Law on Social Insurance, the procedures for implementing the regime for people aged 60 and over who are not eligible for pension and are not yet old enough to receive social retirement benefits are as follows:

Submit the application to the Social Insurance Agency. Subjects specified in Clause 1, Article 23 of the Social Insurance Law 2024 submit the application to the Social Insurance Agency. The application includes the Social Insurance book and a request for monthly benefits.

Within 5 working days from the date of receiving complete documents, the Social Insurance agency is responsible for resolving; in case of non-resolution, a written response must be given stating the reason.

Reduce retirement age

In the Draft Decree detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance on social pension benefits, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs also clearly states the beneficiaries of social pension benefits according to the provisions of Article 21 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024, including:

Vietnamese citizens aged 75 and over are entitled to social pension benefits when they meet the following conditions: Not receiving monthly pension or social insurance benefits, except in other cases as prescribed by the Government; have a written request to receive social pension benefits.

Vietnamese citizens from 70 to under 75 years old, from poor or near-poor households and meeting the above conditions.

In addition to the provisions on eligibility, the draft also proposes a monthly social pension allowance of VND500,000/month. In case this subject is also eligible for monthly social allowance, he/she will receive a higher allowance.

Mr. Giang said the new Law has added social pension benefits, forming a multi-layered social insurance system.

Accordingly, the new Law has lowered the age of receiving social pension benefits from 80 to 75 years old. Some subjects have reduced the age to 70 years old. In addition, the benefit level has been increased from 360,000 to 500,000 VND/person/month from July 1.

"The most important thing is that people aged 75 and over who do not have a pension, in addition to receiving 500,000 VND/month, also have the state budget buy health insurance cards for medical examination and treatment. This is important for workers when they retire," said Mr. Giang.

It is estimated that the number of people between the ages of 75 and 80 who are eligible for social pension benefits under the provisions of the Social Insurance Law 2024 is about 1.5 million people.

If the subsidy is increased to VND500,000/month and the beneficiary age is reduced from 80 to 75, the budget is expected to spend VND30,000 billion for the 2025-2030 period.