Limiting one-time social insurance withdrawal but still ensuring workers' lives

At the meeting hall, delegate Sung A Lenh (Lao Cai) agreed on the need to amend the regulations on one-time social insurance in the draft law to achieve the goal of expanding social insurance coverage, towards the goal of universal social insurance.

However, in order to overcome the situation of the number of people receiving one-time social insurance increasing every year as in recent times, delegate Lenh said that it is necessary to analyze and evaluate carefully to determine the fundamental causes of this situation, in order to have fundamental solutions and have a synchronous policy on social insurance.

Emphasizing that one-time social insurance is a legitimate right of employees participating in social insurance, delegate Doan Thi Thanh Mai (Hung Yen) said that the increasing trend of employees receiving one-time social insurance in recent times is a worrying reality for the implementation of the goal of social security for all people. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency assess the causes leading to the increasing trend of one-time withdrawal of social insurance in order to find a fundamental solution.

Proposing to consider the conditions for one-time social insurance very carefully to ensure social security for workers, the delegate of Hung Yen also analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the two options submitted by the drafting agency and suggested that the option should be studied for workers to choose to withdraw social insurance at one time or withdraw 50% of the paid time; the remaining time is reserved to enjoy social insurance when reaching retirement age and should not only resolve a maximum of 50% of the total paid time.

Regarding one-time social insurance, delegate Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nga (Quang Binh) also said that there needs to be a synchronous solution to protect workers and prevent workers from withdrawing insurance at one time. The draft Law proposes two options, the delegate said that the most flexible option is not to prohibit workers from withdrawing social insurance at one time. However, the conditions for withdrawing social insurance at one time must be strictly regulated. Therefore, the Law can consider designing options for workers to choose from.

At the meeting, delegate Pham Thi Kieu (Dak Nong) also expressed the view that there should be a solution to limit workers from withdrawing social insurance at one time but still ensure that workers can stabilize their lives after stopping working. The delegate suggested that there should be a plan to use the Social Insurance Fund to establish a loan fund for workers who have to stop working but are not yet eligible for pension.

Speaking at the debate on the two options presented by the drafting agency, delegate Nguyen Thanh Cam (Tien Giang) said: If Option 1 is chosen, it will not ensure fairness between employees participating in social insurance before and after the Social Insurance Law (amended) takes effect. Because one of the main reasons why employees have withdrawn their social insurance at one time in the past is to compensate for economic difficulties to take care of their immediate life.

Regulations such as Option 1 can easily lead to the risk of not being able to motivate young workers and new workers to participate in social insurance when the accumulation from wages and income of workers is still very low. Therefore, withdrawing social insurance at one time in many cases is an extremely necessary financial source for workers to maintain and ensure part of their immediate life. Thus, it will unintentionally not create motivation for young workers and new workers to participate in social insurance, not implementing the principles of fairness and equality of social insurance as stated in the law-making viewpoint, causing the meaningful goal of social insurance policy not to be achieved as set out in Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW on reforming social insurance policy of the Central Government.

Delegate Nguyen Thanh Cam said that if choosing Option 2, employees can still withdraw social insurance at once as at present, but the withdrawal level is only 50% of their previous accumulated total, which is unreasonable, because the amount of money the employer pays for social insurance for employees is also the employee's money. Besides, only being able to withdraw 50% is not a good option to support employees when they are facing immediate difficulties in life.

Especially when the one-time social insurance worker is a woman, the use of this money is mainly for the family's essential needs.

“This option will also create a large difference in the amount of one-time social insurance benefits for employees who receive one-time social insurance benefits before and after the Social Insurance Law (amended) takes effect. The policy also fails to achieve the goal of law-making, which is to expand and increase benefits to create attractiveness to attract employees to participate in social insurance,” emphasized delegate Nguyen Thanh Cam.

For the above reasons, delegates recommended that the Drafting Committee should continue to research and consult with directly affected subjects, considering gender perspectives to have a thorough plan that meets the real rights and aspirations of workers regarding one-time social insurance benefits.

Delegates supported the option that workers can still withdraw social insurance at one time and in the most satisfactory way possible. In addition, there should be parallel forms of support such as preferential credit loans for workers along with communication campaigns to change awareness and behavior to help people recognize the long-term benefits of participating in social insurance, thereby voluntarily committing to implementation.