87-year-old woman in Nghe An 'suddenly' had her death benefit cut off

The above unfortunate story happened to Mrs. Tran Thi Nu (87 years old, residing in Phuc Dien 1 hamlet, Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district). Although her hearing is a bit hard, Mrs. Nu's health and memory are still clear. On the afternoon of January 8, working with Nghe An Newspaper, Mrs. Nu said that she has not yet received the death benefit for 3 months (from August to October 2019).

Although he and his son have gone to the Hung Tay commune post office many times to ask, his policy has not been resolved.

Mrs. Tran Thi Nu, 87 years old this year, is still sharp-minded. Photo: PB

More than 20 years ago, Ms. Nu's husband, Mr. Phan Vinh Ngoc, a retired official, passed away. According to state regulations, Ms. Nu is entitled to a monthly pension of 596,000 VND/month.

In previous years, he often went directly to the commune post office to receive the money, sometimes asking his children or grandchildren to do it for him. In August 2019, he was sick and could not go directly to receive the money, and his children and grandchildren were busy and forgot about it. Two months later, because he did not have the information, he did not go to receive the money.

It was not until November 2019 that the old man went to the Hung Tay commune post office to receive his death benefit that the post office staff was surprised. Because 3 months ago, when Mrs. Nu did not come to receive her death benefit, the post office staff recorded her as deceased. From there, the Hung Nguyen District Post Office sent a file to the Hung Nguyen District Social Insurance to complete the procedure to cut off Mrs. Nu's monthly death benefit.

Mr. Phan Vinh Hong, the son of Ms. Nu, was quite upset about the mistake of the post office staff. Photo: PB

Mr. Phan Vinh Hong (Mrs. Nu's son) was quite upset: Because my mother was often sick, I was busy working so I forgot the date to receive the pension. When I went up, I was informed that my mother's pension had been cut. Our family went up to ask many times but the post office staff just gave a general, roundabout answer that the money had not been received yet.

Explaining this incident, Ms. Ho Thi Hien, a post office employee of Hung Tay commune, said that the reason why the old woman had her monthly allowance cut off was due to a mistake. “At that time, Ms. Tran Thi Thuy Trang was assigned by Hung Nguyen Post Office to pay allowances to people in Hung Tay commune. Because she had just arrived, and coincided with the time when many people in the commune were also receiving allowances, when she saw that on the list was Ms. Nu who had not received money for 3 months, she thought that Ms. Nu had passed away,” Ms. Hien said.

It has been more than 3 months since the mistake was discovered, but Ms. Nu is still not on the list of beneficiaries of the death benefit. From November 2019 to now, the Hung Nguyen District Post Office has been temporarily advancing the unit's money to pay Ms. Nu.

Although she has received money since November 2019, Ms. Nu's name is still not in the social insurance benefit payment system. Photo: PB

Admitting responsibility for this mistake, Mr. Vu Cong Nam - Director of Hung Nguyen District Post Office said that the payment officer did not fulfill his assigned duties.

“According to regulations, if you want to make a file to cut off the regime, you have to verify it, but this officer saw that the old man did not come to receive it for 3 consecutive months, so he thought he was dead. From there, the Hung Nguyen District Post Office made a file to send to the superiors to cut off the old man's regime," said Mr. Nam, adding that currently, Mrs. Nu has been added to the list of monthly death benefits, but because the regime for January 2020 and February 2020 was approved in December 2019, Mrs. Nu's death benefit will not be approved until March 2020.

After this incident, employee Tran Thi Thuy Trang was reprimanded, demoted, and transferred to be in charge of payments in another area.

It is known that since 2012, monthly pensions and social insurance benefits have been paid through the postal system. In addition to the payment task, the postal sector is responsible for monitoring changes in the subjects receiving salary payments.

According to Decision No. 828 dated May 27, 2016 of Vietnam Social Security, in case of receiving monthly pension and social insurance benefits, the elderly, weak, lonely, sick, or ill are present at their place of residence, unable to go to receive or cannot authorize another person to receive on their behalf, the Post Office staff must pay directly to the beneficiary's place of residence.