Long list, big worries: Units with long-term debt, large debts
According to the latest statistics from the Vietnam Social Insurance (VSS), by the end of May 2025, the total amount of social insurance debt nationwide had reached nearly VND 14,000 billion.
Notably, about VND4,000 billion of this is in the group of debts that are difficult to recover, coming from bankrupt businesses, being dissolved or no longer having legal representatives. The consequences are that about 206,000 workers are affected by benefits due to enterprises owing social insurance.
Of these, more than 125,000 people have not yet had their benefits resolved, because the social insurance participation process has been interrupted. Many people are old enough to retire but do not have enough years of contributions due to businesses' late payment or evasion of payment, leading to the inability to complete documents, having to "wait" or temporarily retain the working process without knowing when their benefits will be completed.
The situation of social insurance arrears occurs in many types of enterprises, including enterprises with foreign elements and private educational institutions.
In Hanoi, the list of units that owe social insurance for a large amount of money and a long period of debt is very worrying. Many foreign-invested enterprises that employ foreign workers are also on the list of debts that are difficult to recover.
Some typical cases include Human Technology Innovation Vietnam Co., Ltd. (located at HL Tower, Cau Giay), INDIDA Co., Ltd. (Gelexia Riverside, Hoang Mai), Seoul in Hanoi Trading & Service Co., Ltd. (My Dinh, Nam Tu Liem) or GlobaleEdu Vietnam Education Development Joint Stock Company (Tuy Phuong, Bac Tu Liem).
These units all have foreign workers participating in social insurance, but are in a state of prolonged debt without a way to handle it completely.
In addition to the FDI enterprise group, the group of private kindergartens, which employ many female workers and workers in special circumstances, also accounts for a significant proportion in the list of social insurance debts. Many schools are owing tens to hundreds of millions of VND, with the debt lasting for decades.
In the case of the school of Tu Thucua and Conan in Long Bien, Hanoi, it currently owes more than 1.1 billion VND for nearly 100 months. Many other private kindergartens such as The Gioi Nho, Sunkids, Son Ca, Thao Linh, Viet A... are also owing social insurance for 2 to 15 months, with the amount ranging from 10 to 80 million VND per school.
Although the debts are small, when accumulated from many units, the total amount of late payment is very large. As a result, thousands of teachers and caregivers have their social insurance books "suspended", directly affecting their current and future rights.
Not only are they holding out small-duty debts, many large enterprises are also holding back long-term social insurance debts worth up to billions of VND. For example, Khan Viet Company Limited (Cau Giay District) has owed nearly 3.5 billion VND for more than 45 months. Dong Duoc Phuc Hung Company Limited (Ha Dong) owes more than 1.4 billion VND. Hancorp Joint Stock Company (Hai Ba Trung) owed nearly 1 billion VND for more than 53 months.
Son Valpasee Vietnam paint Joint Stock Company (Ngoc Lam, Long Bien) has owed social insurance for nearly 74 months with an amount of over 744 million VND.
Worryingly, most of these enterprises are no longer able to pay or are in a state of waiting for bankruptcy or dissolution, making debt collection almost impossible.
Inspection and examination are drastic but still stuck in the mechanism
To deal with the situation of late payment, evasion, and occupation of the social insurance fund, the Vietnam Social Insurance sector has implemented many drastic measures in inspection and examination work. In 2024 and the first 4 months of 2025, the whole industry has conducted inspections and examinations at 22,928 units.
In addition to strengthening inspection, the social insurance sector also promotes communication, organizing direct working sessions with debt institutions to disseminate laws on social insurance, and at the same time provide guidance on how to overcome and handle violations.
Cases of prolonged violations and delays in paying social insurance will be subject to administrative sanctions, enforcement of decisions or even transfer of documents to the police agency for consideration of criminal prosecution if there are signs of appropriation and abuse of the fund.
However, recovering large outstanding debts, especially bad debts from businesses that are unable to pay, is still a big challenge.
Faced with this situation, there have been proposals to use the state budget or the investment interest of the Social Insurance fund to temporarily pay employees, then calculate the recovery from the enterprise. However, these options have not been included in the draft revised Law on Social Insurance due to concerns about creating a bad precedent, causing businesses to rely on the fund or budget to delay their contribution obligations.
Obviously, social insurance debt, especially bad debts, is not just a simple financial problem but a big challenge for the social security system. When workers' rights are interrupted, confidence in policies is also shaken.
