The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Home Affairs is seeking opinions on the draft Decision of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee stipulating the framework for the number of deputy heads in specialized agencies, administrative organizations and public non-business units under the city's management.
This is to concretize the Law on Urban Development, which takes effect from October 1, 2026.
According to the draft, the number of deputy directors of departments is arranged on average 6 people/department. Based on this framework, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee will decide the specific number of deputy heads of each department, specialized agency and administrative organization under the City People's Committee.
Notably, the draft also stipulates the number of deputy heads of departments under the department based on the scale of staffing. Departments with less than 10 civil servant positions are assigned 1 deputy head of department; from 10 to 14 positions are assigned no more than 2 people; from 15 to 19 positions no more than 3 people; from 20 to 29 positions no more than 4 people.
For departments with 30 or more staff positions, for every 10 additional civil servant positions, 1 deputy head of department is arranged, but not more than 6 people.
The number of deputy heads of department offices is applied according to the same principle.
For sub-departments under departments, sub-departments with 1 to 3 departments and equivalents are arranged with 2 deputy heads of sub-departments; in case there are no departments or 4 or more departments, no more than 3 deputy heads of sub-departments are arranged.
Commune level averages 3 deputy heads of department
At the commune level, the draft proposes that the number of deputy heads of departments is calculated according to the principle of an average of 3 deputy heads/department.
Based on this framework, the chairman of the commune-level People's Committee will decide the specific number of deputy heads of each professional department and other administrative organization under the commune-level People's Committee.
Public service units with a maximum of 3 deputy heads
For public non-business units that self-ensure recurrent expenditures and investment expenditures or self-ensure recurrent expenditures, the number of deputy heads is implemented according to the establishment project or autonomy project approved by competent authorities.
For public non-business units that self-ensure a part of regular expenditures or are guaranteed regular expenditures by the state budget, the draft stipulates that units under the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee are arranged with no more than 3 deputy heads.
In case a unit has 200 or more employees, 1 deputy is additionally arranged, for consideration and decision by the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee.
For non-business units under departments, other administrative agencies of the City and non-business units under commune-level People's Committees, units with 20 or fewer employees are arranged with no more than 2 deputy heads; over 20 people are arranged with no more than 3 deputy heads.
Some special cases such as grade 1 and above hospitals, medical non-business units performing the task of controlling and preventing diseases at the provincial level grade 1 and above, and general schools with multiple levels of education from 40 classes or more are arranged with no more than 3 deputy heads.
For departments under public non-business units, where there are 7 to 9 officials, 1 Deputy Head of Department is arranged; from 10 officials or more, no more than 2 Deputy Heads of Department are arranged.
