Need to pay regional allowances soon for cadres and teachers in remote communes

Quang Tri Newspaper reporter (left) talks with Mr. Nguyen The Vy - Photo: LT

Expect to be paid full regional allowance as prescribed

As a person with quite a long working experience, when the regulations on regional allowances were applied, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Council of Cam Thuy Commune, Nguyen The Vy, was supported with an amount of money enough to help him cover his living expenses. However, after receiving the regime for a while, from 2014 to 2023, his nearly 17 million VND in regional allowances were suspended even though the regulations were still applied.

According to Mr. Vy, at that time, after investigation, the regulations on the areas receiving allowances changed over the years, so the district applied and temporarily stopped paying. However, according to current documents, this regional allowance regime does not depend on updating or changing the list of communes in areas recognized as difficult.

Therefore, the locality has submitted a document to the People's Committee of Cam Lo district, the Department of Internal Affairs and Finance - Planning on confirming the list of beneficiaries and the working process of the commune's cadres and civil servants to propose paying allowances that 34 cases of cadres currently working in the commune, retired civil servants and deceased have not received in full from 2014 to the end of 2023 with an amount of nearly 323 million VND.

“The monthly allowance for each person may not be much, but that is the State’s regulations and policies. Especially, in the context of implementing the policy of streamlining the political system and arranging and merging administrative boundaries at the commune level as it is now, it is possible that those who have not received enough allowance will have to quit their jobs. Therefore, my biggest wish and that of many civil servants in the commune is to soon have their allowances resolved so that they can have more funds to stabilize their lives,” Mr. Vy confided.

There are currently more than 3,500 cases of commune-level civil servants and education officials working at schools in Cam Chinh, Cam Nghia, Cam Thanh, Cam Tuyen and Cam Thuy communes of Cam Lo district who are entitled to regional allowances and have not been fully paid from 2014 to 2023.

Why is there a delay in paying regional allowances?

Speaking to reporters of Quang Tri Newspaper, Head of the Finance and Planning Department of Cam Lo district, Le Anh Chuong, said that since the application of the regional allowance regulation in 2005 until the end of 2013, beneficiaries in 5 communes of Cam Chinh, Cam Nghia, Cam Thanh, Cam Tuyen and Cam Thuy have all been paid seriously by the locality.

In September 2013, based on the decisions of the Ethnic Committee and the Prime Minister on recognizing extremely disadvantaged villages and communes in regions I, II, III in ethnic minority and mountainous areas (EM&MN) for the periods 2012-2015 and 2016-2020, the regional allowance coefficient was adjusted for each commune in Cam Lo district.

Therefore, the locality has applied a reduction in the regional allowance coefficient from 0.2 to 0.1 for Cam Chinh and Cam Nghia communes; cut the allowance regime for Cam Thuy commune and kept the coefficient of 0.2 for Cam Tuyen commune and 0.1 for Cam Thanh commune.

By 2021, according to Decision No. 861/QD-TTg dated June 4, 2021 of the Prime Minister on recognizing extremely disadvantaged villages, communes in region III, region II, region I in the ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the period 2021-2025, Cam Lo district no longer has a commune with a regional allowance coefficient, so we will apply and reduce this allowance for all subjects in the above 5 communes from July 2021.

However, in Official Dispatch No. 1719/SNV-CCVC dated December 28, 2023 of the Department of Home Affairs, it is stated that the regional allowance regime for localities in Quang Tri province is implemented according to the provisions of Joint Circular No. 11 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the Ethnic Committee and is not affected by Decision No. 861 of the Prime Minister.

Therefore, on this basis, we have advised the District People's Committee to apply according to current regulations and deploy to schools and localities with subjects eligible for regional allowances to continue reviewing and synthesizing the funding needs to implement the payment regime from 2014 to present. Accordingly, the total funding needs to pay regional allowances from 2014 to 2024 of 5 communes is more than 9.1 billion VND. Of which, payment for 14 school units is more than 7.4 billion VND and for commune officials is more than 1.7 billion VND.

In 2024 alone, after the locality's request, the Provincial People's Committee issued a decision to supplement the budget and has now paid regional allowances for the year to thousands of commune-level civil servants and education officials with an amount of nearly 1.9 billion VND. Thus, the remaining budget requirement that Cam Lo district must pay for regional allowances from 2014 to 2023 is currently proposed to be nearly 7.3 billion VND.

Which direction solves the regime according to regulations?

Regarding the recommendations to soon pay the regional allowances of thousands of commune-level civil servants and education officials working in 5 communes in the area, Chairman of Cam Lo District People's Committee Tran Anh Tuan shared that this is a legitimate wish, because it is a budget under the regime and policies related to salaries and social security according to regulations.

Therefore, the locality has directed specialized agencies to urgently review and synthesize to have a detailed report on the source of funds to be paid. In difficult conditions, the local budget is still limited, we have repeatedly sent documents requesting the Provincial People's Committee to pay attention, consider, and supplement the source of funds so that the locality can pay enough regional allowances to the subjects.

Recently, on December 20, 2024, we submitted a document to the Provincial People's Committee requesting additional funding of nearly 7.3 billion VND to implement the missing regional allowance regime for civil servants working in communes in regions I and II in the district from 2014 to 2023. However, up to now, the locality has not received a response.

According to Director of the Department of Finance Truong Chi Trung, the budget for paying regional allowances to beneficiaries is built annually based on the budget estimates of localities. From there, the unit will advise the Provincial People's Committee to arrange in the budget at the beginning of the year. Regarding the remaining budget for paying regional allowances of communes in Cam Lo district, it is because the locality has not fully summarized it in the budget estimates for the years 2014 - 2023. Therefore, to pay enough benefits to beneficiaries, the locality needs to proactively use the budget to implement.

According to Mr. Trung, after the unit received a proposal from Cam Lo district requesting additional funding to pay regional allowances in the district in April 2024, the department reviewed the budget report and advised the Provincial People's Committee to provide sufficient funding for 2024 for the locality to pay according to regulations. As for the recent proposal in December 2024, the unit has not yet received instructions from the Provincial People's Committee to consider additional funding related to the payment of the above-mentioned missing regional allowances.

Le Truong

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/can-som-chi-tra-phu-cap-khu-vuc-cho-can-bo-giao-vien-cac-xa-vung-kho-192561.htm