Pensions may increase in 2026
According to Article 3 of Resolution No. 245/2025/QH15 on the implementation of salary policies and social policies, the National Assembly has clearly defined the orientation to continue creating, expanding and supplementing salary reform sources in the coming period.
Expand reform sources to adjust pensions and allowances. Specifically, the Resolution allows the use of central budget salary reform accumulation to adjust:
Pension
Social insurance benefits
Monthly allowance
Preferential allowances for meritorious people
Funding for staff streamlining
At the same time, the salary reform fund of the local budget will be used to implement social security policies issued by the Central Government and serve the streamlining of the apparatus.
In addition, the Government is assigned to review all regular expenditure savings funds from streamlining the payroll and reorganizing the apparatus according to the 2-level local government model. Localities are allowed to use this savings source to supplement the local salary reform fund.
Notably, from 2026, the Government will be able to proactively use accumulated funds for salary reform to ensure full implementation of the regimes: Salary, Allowances, Income according to new regulations, the central budget prioritizes pension adjustment in 2026.
Not only stopping at creating resources, Resolution No. 246/2025/QH15 on central budget allocation in 2026 continues to clearly affirm the priority for spending on adjusting income policies and social security.
According to Clause 10, Article 2 of Resolution 246, the central budget will allocate resources to implement the adjustment: Salary, Pension, Social Insurance Subsidy, Monthly Subsidy, Preferential Subsidy for meritorious people...
Thus, pensions may be adjusted up in 2026.
Social insurance benefits will change
From 2026, social insurance (SI) benefits are expected to be adjusted when the salary policy and reference level continue to be improved.
According to the Social Insurance Law 2024, social insurance participants are entitled to 5 regimes including: sickness, maternity, retirement, death, work-related accidents - occupational diseases. Voluntary social insurance participants are entitled to 4 regimes: maternity, retirement, death and occupational accident insurance.
The level of social insurance benefits is calculated based on the salary used as the contribution basis, the reference level and the basic salary. In which, the reference level is decided by the Government and adjusted according to CPI, economic growth, budget capacity and social insurance fund.
According to Decree 158/2025/ND-CP, when the basic salary has not been abolished, the reference level is equal to the basic salary; when abolished, the reference level is not lower than the basic salary at the time of abolishment.
Currently, the basic salary is 2.34 million VND/month according to Decree 73/2024/ND-CP. Therefore, when the State adjusts the increase in the basic salary from 2026, social insurance benefits calculated at this level will also increase accordingly, contributing to improving income and ensuring social security for beneficiaries.
