Mr. Phung Duc Xuan (68 years old, Bac Ninh) said that he used to be a demobilized soldier and received a one-time allowance. After returning to his locality, he mainly worked as a freelancer, so he did not participate in social insurance (BHXH) to receive a monthly pension.
I learned that it used to be 75 years old to receive social pension benefits. Recently, I heard information that the State is drafting a plan to reduce the age for receiving this allowance to 70 years old. If the policy is implemented, I am very much looking forward to it because people without pensions like us will have more support when we are old," Mr. Xuan shared.
Also in a similar situation, Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan (69 years old, Quang Ninh) said that she has reached retirement age but does not have a pension. According to Ms. Loan, when she was still working, voluntary social insurance participation was not common, so many freelancers had almost no opportunity to accumulate social security benefits for their old age.
If you have to wait until 75 years old to receive the allowance, the waiting time is quite long. I hope the State will consider reducing the retirement age to support the elderly who do not have pensions soon," Ms. Loan said.
Currently, the Ministry of Home Affairs is drafting amendments to the Law on Social Insurance. In the draft, the drafting agency proposes two options related to the age for enjoying social pension benefits.
The first option is to maintain the current regulations. The second option is that the Government is allowed to decide to gradually reduce the age of 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 the necessary conditions are met, the Government will submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration the further reduction of this age to below 70 years old.
According to the drafting agency, the adjustment of the age for enjoying allowances is to implement the objectives of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW on social insurance policy reform, which sets a target of about 60% of people after retirement age to receive monthly pensions, social insurance and social pension allowances.
Expanding policy coverage is expected to help many elderly people, especially freelance workers, people with working hours but not eligible for pensions, have more support when they are old.
According to data from Vietnam Social Security, the number of people participating in social insurance currently reaches about 21.530 million people, equivalent to 45.1% of the working-age labor force, an increase of 1.368 million people compared to 2024.
In which, the number of people participating in compulsory social insurance is 18.910 million people, reaching 39.6% of the working-age labor force, an increase of more than 1 million people. The number of people participating in voluntary social insurance reached 2.619 million people, equivalent to 5.49% of the working force, an increase of about 308,000 people compared to the previous year.
In addition to social insurance policies, the whole country is currently implementing social pension allowances for about 2.5 million people, with a total state budget expenditure of nearly 7,000 billion VND.
Some localities have proactively increased the allowance level higher than the general regulations. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City increased the allowance level to 650,000 VND/month; Hai Phong and Quang Ninh to 700,000 VND/month; Tuyen Quang to 530,000 VND/month.
