Social insurance debt: What are the solutions to recover?

Workers "stuck" between bad debts

The Hanoi City Social Insurance Agency has just announced the list of employers who are late in paying social insurance, health insurance, unemployment insurance and occupational accident and sickness insurance for 2 months or more in the area.

As of the end of December 2025, the total amount of social insurance late payment interest to be calculated in Hanoi is 1,512.4 billion VND, accounting for 1.79%, down 0.29% compared to 2024.

At the top of the list is still the familiar name - Apax English Joint Stock Company, with a late payment period of up to 72 months and an amount of more than 64.6 billion VND.

Apax English Joint Stock Company is in a serious crisis, English centers have almost closed or are operating at a standstill.

This is a typical case of a business owing social insurance for many years, even in reality it is still involved in disputes with parents and teachers. It can be seen that the ability to repay social insurance debt is very low. This is almost "recoverable debt", no longer ordinary debt.

Next is LILAMA3 Joint Stock Company with 129 months of insurance debt, total amount of nearly 49.3 billion VND. Or Bridge 12 Joint Stock Company, late payment for 104 months with an amount of nearly 30.1 billion VND, seriously affecting the rights of employees...

Worryingly, the amount of late payments of units that have stopped trading is up to 1,980.9 billion VND, accounting for 43.39% of the total debt. This poses an urgent requirement for synchronous solutions to tighten management and ensure the rights of workers.

Nearly 2,000 billion VND of social insurance debt belonging to businesses that have stopped trading is not only an alarming figure, but also reveals a worrying reality: a very large part of social security obligations is "stuck" in legal entities that almost no longer exist in reality.

When social insurance debt has accumulated to this extent, the issue is no longer "do you pay or not?", but "Is there still a possibility to pay or not?".

More notably, while businesses can dissolve, go bankrupt or simply stop trading, workers' rights do not have an "automatic protection" mechanism.

They may have worked for many years but have not had their social insurance books closed, and are not eligible for sickness, maternity or pension benefits. In other words, business risks of enterprises are being "transferred" to employees - the weakest people but bearing the biggest consequences.

This situation also shows a large gap in the management mechanism, which is that the detection and handling of violations is coming too late. When businesses start to delay payments for a few months, if there are strong enough intervention measures such as freezing accounts, restricting transactions, or linking data with tax authorities to control cash flow... then the debt may still be within control. But when it is prolonged for dozens of months, even hundreds of months, all solutions are almost only "handling the consequences".

Need to implement many strong measures to limit "bad debt

Sharing about this issue, Mr. Vu Duc Thuat, Deputy Director of Hanoi Social Insurance, said: In fact, there are still many units that have not fully fulfilled their obligations, even intentionally delaying payments, prolonging the insurance debt period for employees.

Failure to register for participation or late payment of insurance not only directly affects the legitimate rights of employees but is also a violation of the law. Depending on the severity and nature of the violation, units may be administratively sanctioned, or even considered for criminal handling according to current regulations," Mr. Vu Duc Thuat emphasized.

Regarding solutions to this issue, Mr. Vu Duc Thuat said: Over the past time, in order to reduce the situation of prolonged social insurance payment delays, Hanoi Social Insurance has synchronously implemented many solutions. The focus is on promoting propaganda and dissemination of policies and laws on social insurance and health insurance, thereby raising the awareness of compliance of employers and the awareness of employees. In particular, the Social Insurance agency strengthens direct dialogue with businesses that are late in paying to remove obstacles.

At the same time, the City Social Insurance assigns specific targets to each specialized revenue management officer, including revenue, late payment amounts and participant development. Implementation results are evaluated weekly, as a basis for monthly, quarterly and annual emulation evaluations. This approach contributes to improving the responsibility and proactiveness of the staff, while creating positive pressure in revenue collection and reducing insurance debt.

Notably, Hanoi Social Insurance has coordinated with departments and branches to establish an inter-sectoral working group to work with units that have been late in payment for more than 3 months. The composition includes the Department of Home Affairs, the City Labor Federation, the City Inspectorate, Tax Department and the City Police. Through implementation, units and businesses have paid over 700 billion VND, contributing to a significant reduction in late payment amounts in the area.

Every month, the social insurance agency analyzes and classifies units that are late in paying according to types, occupations and debt periods to determine the causes, thereby applying appropriate urging measures.

Periodically on the 5th and 20th, Social Insurance sends notices of the provisional amount so that the unit can proactively pay ahead of schedule. At the same time, specialized management officials regularly monitor and remind through many channels; local authorities also get involved to urge.

In 2025, inspection and examination work was strengthened, bringing positive results. At the time of issuing the inspection decision, the amount of late payment was 582.4 billion VND, reduced to 287.8 billion VND when the minutes were approved.

At the same time, the social insurance agency requested to retroactively pay for 1,052 workers who have not participated or paid in full, with a total amount of 16.2 billion VND, contributing to ensuring the legitimate rights of workers.

In 2026, Hanoi Social Insurance will continue to drastically and synchronously implement solutions to control and minimize the situation of late payment of social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance. The focus is on strengthening dialogue, inspection, examination, and application of information technology in revenue management, promptly detecting and handling violations.

At the same time, promote inter-sectoral coordination, resolutely handle cases of intentional delays, ensure legal discipline and the legitimate rights of workers.