The Ministry of Finance has just sent a written response to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) regarding the impact of the new wage policy on the implementation of social insurance policy.
Regarding the need to implement the plan to adjust pensions and social insurance benefits from July 1, 2024, the Ministry of Finance requested the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to recalculate the appropriate increase.
The 15% pension increase needs to be reconsidered. (Illustration photo).
According to the proposal of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the increase in pensions and social insurance benefits is 15%; increase in preferential allowances for people with revolutionary contributions by 29.2% (from VND 2,055,000 to VND 2,655,000); increase in social benefits by 38.9% (from VND 360,000 to VND 500,000).
According to the preliminary estimate of the Ministry of Finance, the need for State budget funding in 2024 compared to the State budget expenditure estimate in 2024 assigned by the competent authority to implement the above proposed plan is 17,276 billion VND. This is beyond the balancing capacity of the State budget estimate in 2024 decided by the National Assembly (maximum 7,430 billion VND).
On that basis, the Ministry of Finance requests the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to coordinate with relevant agencies to review and determine specific adjustment levels, to submit to competent authorities to decide on the increase levels based on the balancing capacity of the State budget.
Regarding the State budget estimate to be allocated to implement the adjustment of pensions, social insurance benefits, and monthly allowances, the Ministry of Finance said that according to Resolution No. 104/2023/QH15 on the State budget estimate for 2024, it clearly stated that salary reform and adjustment of pensions, some allowances, subsidies, and social security policies is 74,048 billion VND.
Resolution No. 104/2023/QH15 also mentions the content of allocating a maximum of about VND 7,430 billion from the State budget in the last 6 months of 2024 to adjust increases in pensions, social insurance benefits, and monthly allowances.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in the context of difficult central budget balance, the resources for adjusting pensions and some social security and subsidy policies are very limited, while some localities continue to have large surplus resources for salary reform.
Therefore, in order to proactively adjust policies and reduce the pressure on allocating the central budget to support localities, the Ministry of Finance proposes that the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs report to competent authorities, allowing the use of the accumulated salary reform resources of the central budget, and the remaining salary reform resources of localities, after ensuring sufficient salary reform needs, to be used to implement the adjustment of pensions and the above-mentioned allowances.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Finance, there are currently many social insurance and health insurance regimes stipulated in the Law on Social Insurance, the Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene, the Law on Health Insurance; a number of social security regimes (policy scholarships, support for study costs for a number of pupils and students stipulated in the Law on Education, etc.).
When implementing public sector salary reform from July 1, 2024, it will directly impact social insurance, health insurance, and student benefits, because there will no longer be regulations on basic salary.
However, as of July 1, 2024, the Law on Social Insurance, the Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene, the Law on Health Insurance, and the Law on Education are still in effect and have not been replaced by any document.
Therefore, to ensure legality and consistency in implementation, the Ministry of Finance requests the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Training, etc. to review and research to report to the Government to submit to the National Assembly at the May 2024 session.
Accordingly, the National Assembly will consider and decide on the standard level as the basis for implementing social insurance, health insurance and social security regimes, currently calculated based on a salary of 1.8 million VND. From there, it will ensure the consistency between salary reform of officials and civil servants, and the goal of ensuring social security, while also linking it with the roadmap for adjusting service prices of public service units.
Source
Comment (0)