Contributing opinions on the amended Law on Social Insurance, Son La Department of Home Affairs proposed reducing the retirement age to 55 years for women and 60 years for men for voluntary social insurance participants (Article 98) who have 15 years or more of social insurance contributions and have lived in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions or areas with regional allowances from 0.7 or more.
According to the Son La Department of Home Affairs, people participating in voluntary social insurance living and working in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions or areas with regional allowances from 0.7 or higher often have difficult working and living conditions, unstable income, and their working age and health are more affected than in normal areas.
The regulation on reducing the retirement age for this group of subjects will contribute to ensuring fairness, in accordance with actual conditions; and at the same time encourage people in difficult areas to participate in voluntary social insurance for a long time, contributing to expanding the coverage of social insurance according to the Party and State's policy.
Regarding this suggestion, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it did not accept it.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, voluntary social insurance is an insurance regime with contribution - benefit, sharing nature and is designed on the basis of long-term fund balance, in which the pension benefit level depends directly on the participation time and contribution level of the employee.
The Ministry of Home Affairs believes that the proposal to reduce the retirement age by another 5 years for groups of people participating in voluntary social insurance who have contributed for 15 years or more and have lived in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions or areas with regional allowances from 0.7 or more will significantly increase the pension benefit period.
This leads to prolonging the payment time while the contribution obligations of this group of subjects do not increase correspondingly.
In the context that the current voluntary social insurance contribution level is relatively low, and the State is implementing a policy to partially support contributions from the state budget, the expansion of the pension benefit period may increase pressure on the pension fund and affect the principle of long-term balance of the social insurance system.
Therefore, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the adjustment towards reducing the retirement age for the above-mentioned group of subjects needs to be considered carefully based on the overall assessment of the impact on the social insurance fund, the ability to balance the state budget and the sustainability of social security policies.
In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs believes that voluntary social insurance participants are not associated with specific working conditions and occupations like compulsory social insurance.
The identification of subjects based on "duration of residence" in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions or areas with regional allowances from 0.7 or higher still raises obstacles in organization, implementation and management.
According to Article 98 of the current Law on Social Insurance, voluntary social insurance participants are entitled to a pension when they reach retirement age as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 169 of the Labor Code and have paid social insurance for 15 years or more.
The retirement age is regulated in Article 169 of the 2019 Labor Code. Accordingly, the retirement age of workers in normal working conditions is adjusted according to a roadmap until reaching 62 years old for male workers in 2028 and 60 years old for female workers in 2035.
