On the morning of November 27, with the majority of delegates present in agreement, the Hanoi People's Council passed a Resolution regulating the standard level of social assistance and the city's social assistance policy.
According to the Resolution, the standard level of social assistance of Hanoi City officially increased from 500,000 VND/month to 650,000 VND/month, applied from January 1, 2026.
This level will be paid to social protection beneficiaries according to the provisions of Decree No. 20/2021/ND-CP dated March 15, 2021 of the Government regulating social assistance policies for social protection beneficiaries; beneficiaries of social assistance policies of Hanoi City.
Along with that, there are also subjects receiving social pension benefits according to the provisions of Decree No. 176/2025/ND-CP of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance on social pension benefits.
The standard level of social assistance is the basis for determining the monthly social allowance; the level of financial support for care and nurturing; the level of nurturing allowance in public social assistance facilities under the management of the Department of Health; other levels of social assistance.
"In case the beneficiary of Hanoi's social assistance policy is eligible for many monthly allowance and support policies according to different coefficients, he/she will only receive one policy or the highest benefit level. When the Central Government changes the social assistance standard and support level for subjects specified in the resolution to be higher than the City level, it will be applied according to the Central Government level," the Resolution clearly states.
The Resolution of the Hanoi People's Council also adds a group of subjects receiving social pension benefits according to Decree No. 176/2025/ND-CP of the Government stipulating, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance on social pension benefits to apply the city's social assistance standard. This group will receive Tet gifts like beneficiaries of other special social assistance policies.
According to Decree 176/2025/ND-CP, from July 1, 2025, Vietnamese citizens aged 70-75 living in poor and near-poor households and people aged 75 and over who do not receive monthly pensions or social insurance benefits will receive a monthly social pension allowance of VND 500,000/month; at the same time, the elderly who are receiving benefits under Decree 20/2021/ND-CP, if eligible, will be transferred to receive social pension benefits, while the social assistance policy prescribed in Decree 20 will expire from July 1, 2025.
Currently, Hanoi has 282,689 people receiving monthly social assistance policies in the community, of which social assistance is 119,679 people; the elderly from the age of 80 who are receiving social protection transferred to social pension benefits are 84,371 people; the new social pension benefits from July 2025 are 78,639 people. In addition, Hanoi has 3,117 people being cared for and nurtured at the city's public social assistance facilities.
According to the new decision, the total estimated implementation cost is more than VND 2,406 billion/year, of which the implementation cost according to the standard social assistance level of VND 650,000/month is more than VND 199.242 billion/month (equivalent to VND 2,390.904 billion/year), an increase of VND 45.99 billion/month (equivalent to VND 551.9 billion/year) compared to the current policy implementation cost.
Social allowance funds in the community are over VND 85.550 billion/month (up VND 42.82 billion/month); allowance funds for child care at social assistance facilities are VND 7.95 billion/month (up VND 1.8 billion/month); support funds for burial costs for social protection beneficiaries are over VND 4.970 billion/month (up VND 1.147 billion/month)...; estimated funding for additional Tet gifts for the group of subjects from 75 to under 80 years old is about VND 15.638 billion/year.
