Proposal to increase social allowance standard to 500,000 VND/month from July 1, 2024

According to the draft, it is expected that if this plan is implemented from July 1, 2024, the State budget will need to allocate an additional VND 4,700 billion in the last 6 months of 2024 to provide monthly social assistance (with a social assistance standard of VND 500,000/month) for about 3,356 million social protection beneficiaries and 349,000 beneficiaries of care funding support. If approved by the Government, this regulation will be applied from July 1, 2024.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, raising the monthly social assistance standard to ensure the living standards of social protection beneficiaries is in accordance with Resolution No. 42-NQ/TW dated November 24, 2023 of the Central Executive Committee on continuing to innovate and improve the quality of social policies, meeting the requirements of the cause of national construction and protection in the new period, the 2013 Constitution and under the authority of the Government.

Currently, the social assistance standard is 360,000 VND/month, only about 17% of the average income, equal to 24% of the rural poverty standard for the period 2021-2025 (1.5 million VND/month). The monthly social assistance regime is still low, so it only supports a part of the essential needs of the people; not similar to the social insurance policy, pension, poverty reduction and subsidies for people with revolutionary contributions.

On the other hand, the current prices of goods and services consumed daily by people have increased, while the level of social assistance has not changed, making the lives of social protection beneficiaries more difficult...

According to Decree 20/2021 of the Government, there are currently 8 groups of social protection beneficiaries receiving monthly social benefits such as: Children under 16 years old who are abandoned and have no one to adopt them, orphans of both parents; children infected with HIV/AIDS from poor households. Other beneficiaries are the elderly from poor households, the elderly from 75 to 80 years old from poor households, near-poor households living in communes and villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas with special difficulties, people from 80 years old and over who do not have pensions, monthly social insurance benefits, monthly social benefits; people with severe disabilities, people with especially severe disabilities...

According to statistics from the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, in the first half of 2024, the Ministry directed the implementation of social subsidies for 3.387 million people. Notably, 61/63 provinces and cities made payments through payment service organizations and 63/63 provinces and cities made non-cash payments to social security beneficiaries.