Proposal to raise the maximum social assistance standard to 750,000 VND

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is finalizing a draft Decree amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 20/2021 of the Government regulating social assistance policies for social protection beneficiaries.

According to the Ministry of Information, raising the monthly social assistance standard to ensure the lives of social protection beneficiaries is in accordance with the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, the 2013 Constitution and is under the authority of the Government.

The report also clearly states two options for raising the social assistance standard.

Option 1: Increase the monthly social allowance standard from VND 360,000 to VND 500,000, equivalent to 33% of the rural poverty line for the 2021-2025 period.

With this plan, the annual implementation cost will be about 37,113 billion VND, an increase compared to the current regulation of 9,465 billion VND. The decree is expected to take effect from July 1, 2024, in 2024 the state budget will allocate about 4,700 billion VND more than in 2023.

Option 2, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs proposed to raise the monthly social allowance standard from VND 360,000 to VND 750,000, equivalent to 50% of the rural poverty line for the 2021-2025 period.

With the social assistance standard of 750,000 VND (an increase of 108.3% compared to the old standard), the total implementation cost is about 54,000 billion VND/year, the state budget will allocate an additional 26,300 billion VND/year. The decree is expected to take effect from July 1, 2024, in 2024 the state budget will allocate an additional 13,100 billion VND compared to 2023.

"The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs proposes that the Government consider and decide on option 1 to raise the social assistance standard to VND500,000/month," the submission stated.

Explaining the choice of this option, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that it would ensure the implementation of the roadmap to increase the standard level of social assistance in relation to other social policies, fairness between groups of subjects with especially difficult circumstances, not leaving out any subjects; no one is left behind.

At the same time, option 1 is suitable for the budget allocation to ensure social security, while meeting the minimum living standards for social protection beneficiaries.

According to the summary report on the implementation of Decree No. 20/2021, the Government issued this Decree to replace Decree 136/2013 on social assistance policies for social protection beneficiaries.

This includes regulations to adjust the standard social allowance from VND270,000 to VND360,000 and add additional groups of beneficiaries including the elderly aged 75-80 and children under 3 years old from poor and near-poor households living in communes and villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas with special difficulties.

At the same time, it regulates administrative procedure reform, decentralization, delegation of authority, and assignment of responsibilities to provinces and cities, creating favorable conditions for effective policy implementation.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs said that currently, the whole country has 3,356,602 people receiving monthly social allowances and 361,590 people receiving monthly care support funds.

Also according to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, in general, the beneficiaries of regular policies have been expanded, increasing from 2.6 million people (accounting for 1.63% of the population) in 2014 to 2.863 million people (accounting for 2.95% of the population) in 2018 and increasing to 3.718 million people in 2023.