The draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance (BHXH) is being consulted with many new proposals to improve social security policies and overcome obstacles arising in the process of implementing the 2024 Law on Social Insurance.
Contributing opinions on the draft Law, the Ministry of Health proposed to abolish the regulation on the composition of dossiers "with written requests for social pension benefits" in order to reduce unnecessary administrative procedures, creating maximum favorable conditions for the elderly in accessing social security policies.
The Ministry of Health also proposed to supplement and clarify the phrase "monthly social insurance allowance" specified in point b, clause 1, Article 21. Accordingly, it is necessary to clearly stipulate the criteria for determining the scope or type of specific allowance belonging to this group to create a transparent and unified legal basis, overcome obstacles in the process of classifying subjects in localities, thereby creating favorable conditions for agencies and units in the process of organizing implementation.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said that it does not accept the above proposals. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, maintaining the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance No. 41/2024/QH15 is necessary because the dossier "with a written request for social pension benefits" expresses the wishes of the elderly.
The Ministry of Home Affairs also said that it did not accept the proposal to clearly stipulate the phrase "monthly social insurance allowance" in the Law on Social Insurance.
The reason is that the Government has now stipulated the beneficiaries of monthly pensions and social insurance allowances in the decree on adjusting pensions, social insurance allowances and monthly allowances.
The fact that the Law assigns the Government to regulate as it is now creates favorable conditions in the process of organizing policy implementation and timely amendments when new situations arise.
Previously, contributing opinions on the conditions for enjoying social pension benefits, many units proposed reducing the age for enjoying benefits for people without pensions.
Accordingly, some localities proposed reducing the age for receiving allowances from 75 to 70 years old.
Regarding the local opinions on reducing the retirement age for pension benefits, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that it has received and included this content in the draft revised Law on Social Insurance with two options to ask for opinions.
The first option is to maintain the current regulations.
The second option stipulates that the Government decides to gradually reduce the age of enjoying social pension benefits to 70 years old, in accordance with socio-economic development conditions and the ability to balance the state budget in each period. When necessary, the Government will submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee to decide on continuing to reduce the age of enjoying pension benefits to below 70 years old.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the study to reduce the age of enjoying social pension benefits aims to achieve the goal of expanding the coverage of social security policies, towards increasing the number of elderly people with stable income when they reach retirement age.
It is known that the regulations on subjects and conditions for enjoying social pension benefits are stipulated in Article 21 of the current Law on Social Insurance as follows:
1. Vietnamese citizens are entitled to social pension benefits when they meet the following conditions:
a) From 75 years of age or older;
b) Not receiving pension or monthly social insurance allowance, except in other cases as prescribed by the Government;
c) Having a written request for social pension benefits.
2. Vietnamese citizens from 70 years old to under 75 years old who are from poor households, near-poor households and meet the conditions specified in points b and c, clause 1 of this Article are entitled to social pension benefits.
3. The National Assembly Standing Committee decides to gradually adjust the age of enjoyment of social pension benefits based on the Government's proposal in accordance with socio-economic development conditions and the capacity of the state budget for each period.
4. The Government shall specify the provisions of Clause 2 of this Article.
Data from the social insurance agency shows that by the end of the first quarter of 2026, the number of people receiving monthly pensions and social insurance allowances reached more than 3.5 million people, an increase of 3.01% compared to 2024. It is expected that by the end of 2026, this number will reach more than 3.54 million people.
The whole country is implementing social pension benefits for about 2.5 million people, with a total budget from the state budget of nearly 7,000 billion VND.
