Unclear 'reference level' for paying social insurance instead of basic salary, how to implement it
Báo Thanh niên•27/05/2024
The Government said that it would set a reference level as the basis for social insurance contributions, pensions, and allowances, but National Assembly deputies said that it was "not clear how it would be developed and implemented" so they proposed to delay the passage of the bill to thoroughly assess its impact.
On the morning of May 27, at the discussion session of the revised Social Insurance Law, delegate Tran Khanh Thu (Thai Binh delegation) said that according to Resolution No. 27 of the Party Central Committee on salary reform, the basic salary will be abolished. When the basic salary no longer exists, there will be no basis for calculating pensions, allowances, and other social insurance regimes.
Delegate Tran Khanh Thu speaks at the discussion session on the morning of May 27.
GIA HAN
At the same time, according to Ms. Thu, the salary used as the basis for paying social insurance for the group of subjects receiving state salaries will increase compared to the current level, which will increase the cost of the state budget to pay social insurance for these subjects. In addition, when implementing the new salary regime, there will be a large difference in pensions between those who retire before and after July 1. Ms. Thu said that the Government's report proposed to add regulations on the concept of "reference level" instead of the basic salary level to be the basis for calculating social insurance as well as related regulations. However, the assessment of the impact on the reference level after the salary reform is not really complete. The delegate of Thai Binh analyzed that, in addition to subjects receiving salaries from the state budget, public service units will not have a basis for application. Meanwhile, the price of medical services and tuition fees have not been adjusted in current laws as well as the draft law on social insurance. Therefore, Ms. Thu suggested that it is necessary to have time to assess the impact of this policy. At the same time, the delegate said that in addition to the Social Insurance Law, the Health Insurance Law is also expected to be revised. Therefore, it is necessary to have an assessment to be consistent and synchronized with both pillars of social security, health insurance and social insurance. For these reasons, the delegate of Thai Binh proposed to consider passing the draft law at the 8th session (end of 2024) instead of this 7th session to have more time to assess the actual impact of salary reform policies on the Social Insurance policy, as well as related draft laws. "The law should only be issued when it ensures social security for people and workers on the principle of contribution - enjoyment. When a good law will create peace of mind for people and workers," Ms. Thu stated.
Unclear how the "reference level" is constructed and implemented
Similarly, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Ethnic Council Tran Thi Hoa Ry (Bac Lieu delegation) said that most of the provisions in the draft law are directly or indirectly related to salary policy because this is the basis for collecting, spending and implementing the social insurance regime.
Delegate Tran Thi Hoa Ry speaks at the discussion session on the morning of May 27.
GIA HAN
Ms. Ry said that through studying the reports of the Government as well as the National Assembly Standing Committee, she found that this content was not consistent. Up to now, there has been no report fully assessing the impact of the policy sent to the National Assembly deputies in accordance with the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents. The Vice President of the National Assembly's Ethnic Council said that the use and policies related to the Social Insurance Fund are very big issues. Therefore, changing the policy cannot avoid consulting widely with workers in the context of salary reform because "the bottle is old but the wine is new". "Wages have changed fundamentally since July 1 and it is unclear how the "reference level" will be built and implemented in place of the basic salary. On the other hand, there will also be a difference between retirees before and after July 1 if no adjustments are made for retirees before this time when implementing salary policy reform, Ms. Ry said. From there, the female delegate suggested that there needs to be an impact assessment and thorough research on this policy. Ms. Ry also suggested passing the law after implementing salary reform from July 1. In the process of receiving and revising the draft revised Social Insurance Law, after many proposals, on May 15, the Government proposed to replace the "basic salary" with the "reference level" in the draft law. Accordingly, the reference level for calculating social insurance is calculated at 1,800,000 VND from July 1, 2024 to replace the basic salary to implement Social insurance. However, on May 25, the Government sent report No. 286 to the National Assembly proposing to stipulate that the reference level is the amount of money used to calculate the contribution level and the level of enjoyment of some social insurance regimes in this law. Accordingly, the reference level is calculated by the basic salary level. When the basic salary level is abolished, the reference level will be adjusted by the Government based on the increase in the consumer price index and economic growth, in accordance with the capacity of the state budget and the social insurance fund. The amended Social Insurance Law will be implemented from the 6th session in October 2023, in the context of implementing salary reform decided by the National Assembly from July 1. According to the agenda, the law will be passed by the National Assembly at the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly this time.
Comment (0)