More than 800 cases of wrongful collection in one province
According to statistics, among more than 4,000 business owners who were required to collect social insurance in violation of regulations nationwide (in the period of 2003-2016), Tuyen Quang province is the locality with the highest number with 870 cases. Most of these people have paid for 20 years, waiting for pensions or the refund of the incorrect payment.
Unfortunately, after many years of petitioning, reflecting, and even being raised at the National Assembly, up to now, the Social Insurance Agency of Tuyen Quang province has not yet taken specific solutions, causing people to increasingly lose confidence.
People are upset
Mr. Nguyen Viet Lam (Minh Xuan Ward, Tuyen Quang City) said that he borrowed nearly 300 million VND to pay the 5-year social insurance deposit, hoping to close the book and receive a pension. But until now, when he went to the provincial Social Insurance headquarters to ask, he still received the answer that "there is no guidance from Vietnam Social Insurance" and "continue to wait".
I waited in fear. Why can't Tuyen Quang Social Insurance proactively review and propose solutions, but just wait? While this locality is the place with the most illegal collection in the country" - Mr. Lam was upset.
Ms. Hua Thi Mai (Son Duong commune, Tuyen Quang province), who is struggling with ovarian cancer, is also one of the people who received the wrong payment. "I'm so weak, how long can I wait? Local Social Insurance says just wait, where can we rely?" - she choked up.
Who is responsible?
At the National Assembly's question-and-answer session in June 2023, Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung (now Minister of Ethnic Minorities and Religions) proposed 3 solutions to handle this case. However, after more than 2 years, the plans have not been specifically implemented in Tuyen Quang.
Obviously, this prolonged delay raises a big question about the responsibility of Tuyen Quang Social Insurance in proactively reviewing, collecting statistics, dialogue and proposing appropriate solutions to competent authorities. The occasion "waiting for instructions from superiors" cannot be an excuse for abandoning the legitimate rights of hundreds of people.
According to the Social Insurance Law 2024, from July 1, 2025, business owners with new business registration will officially be subject to compulsory social insurance. This further reinforces that the previous collection was against regulations, due to the wrong application. Therefore, there is more basis to resolve the rights of those who were wrongly collected before the new law takes effect.
Social insurance policies are for social security, for workers, but if they do not go all in correcting mistakes and protecting legitimate rights, it will be difficult to put the policy into practice. The first responsibility must belong to Tuyen Quang Social Insurance, which has the largest number of affected people in the country.
