Abolish the concept of "commune-level cadres and civil servants"
The 2025 Law on Cadres and Civil Servants officially abolishes the term "commune-level cadres and civil servants", unifying the application of a common legal framework and salary table for all cadres and civil servants in the political system from the central to the commune level.
Previously, according to Article 4 of the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants 2008 (amended and supplemented in 2019), the law clearly distinguished between "commune-level cadres" and "commune-level civil servants". In which:
Commune-level cadres are those elected and hold positions according to their terms in the Standing Committee of the People's Council, People's Committee, Party Committee and socio-political organizations at the commune level.
Commune-level civil servants are those who are recruited to professional and technical positions under the People's Committees at the commune level, receiving salaries from the State budget.
Thus, the concept of "commune-level cadres and civil servants" was once separated and regulated into a separate regime, different from the group of cadres and civil servants at the district, provincial or central levels.
However, by the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants 2025, this regulation has completely changed. Specifically, Article 1 of the new Law stipulates:
Cadres who are Vietnamese citizens elected, approved or appointed to positions according to their terms in agencies of the Party, State, the Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations at all three levels: central, provincial and commune.
Civil servants are those recruited to work in the above agencies and organizations, including the commune level, in the payroll and receiving salaries from the State budget.
This means that the 2025 Law on Cadres and Civil Servants has merged commune-level cadres and civil servants into a common system, no longer separated into separate groups as before.
No longer arranging salaries according to Decree 33
The unification of the concept leads to an adjustment of the salary table for commune-level civil servants. According to Article 71 of Decree 170/2025/ND-CP, from July 1, 2025, this Decree takes effect and abolishes all regulations related to commune-level civil servants in Decree 33/2023/ND-CP of the Government.
The contents that have expired include:
tons, standards, number of commune-level civil servants;
Recruitment, transfer, and job transfer;
Salary, allowances, policies;
Policy on termination of employment, retirement, reward, discipline and management of commune-level civil servants.
From there, commune-level civil servants will no longer be able to be paid according to Decree 33/2023/ND-CP, but will switch to applying a new unified salary table designed according to job positions, titles and general ranks in the entire administrative system.
According to Decision 759/QD-TTg in 2025 of the Prime Minister, commune-level cadres and civil servants after being assigned to work at the new commune-level administrative unit will have their current salary and position allowances reserved for the first 6 months.
After this time, they will be paid and allocated according to the new salary table, ensuring compliance with the position, title and new regulations of the law.
The abandonment of the concept of "commune-level cadres and civil servants" and the transition to applying a unified salary table is considered an important step in the process of reforming salary policies according to Resolution 27-NQ/TW of the Central Committee.
This helps simplify the legal system, eliminate overlap between administrative levels, and at the same time ensure fairness and transparency in the salary regime of cadres and civil servants nationwide.
From July 1, 2025, all commune-level civil servants will officially receive salaries according to the new unified salary table, ending the application of Decree 33 - marking a period of comprehensive reform in grassroots cadre policy.
