The Golden Goodbye: Redundant Civil Servants to Receive a Generous Severance Package

Surplus of 21,800 civil servants and officials expected

On the morning of August 22, in response to a question about handling surplus civil servants and officials after the merger of districts and communes, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra stated that during the 2023-2025 period, the proposed rearrangement of 47 administrative units at the district level is expected to result in a reduction of 13 units. Additionally, the rearrangement of 1,247 administrative units at the commune level is anticipated to lead to a decrease of 624 units.

Consequently, it is estimated that there will be a surplus of 21,800 civil servants and officials, comprising 1,200 at the district level, 13,100 at the commune level, and 7,100 non-specialist officials at the commune level.

“The resolution of this surplus issue is expected to be completed by 2030,” said Ms. Tra.

In this context, the Ministry of Home Affairs has advised the Government to issue Decree 29/2023, which provides regulations on streamlining the workforce, including a specific section dedicated to addressing the surplus of civil servants and officials during the rearrangement of administrative units at both the district and commune levels.

According to Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra, 46 out of 54 localities that are subject to rearrangement have issued resolutions by their People’s Councils to provide additional support beyond the Government’s general regulations.

Significant financial resources are required for these localities to implement the policies related to the surplus personnel. For localities with self-balanced budgets, they are responsible for allocating funds to manage the surplus civil servants and officials in accordance with the Government’s decrees and their respective Provincial People’s Council resolutions.

“For localities without self-balanced budgets, they need to consolidate and submit reports to the Government for budget allocation to cover the costs associated with implementing the policies for surplus civil servants, officials, and non-specialist personnel at the district and commune levels,” said Ms. Tra.

The Minister urged the localities to expedite the consolidation process, suggesting that if the surplus civil servants and officials were to retire immediately, a substantial amount of financial resources would be available for them to seek new opportunities.

Nationwide, 584 talented individuals were attracted in the last two years

Responding to a question about the strategy for developing human resources, particularly attracting excellent students and talented individuals to the public sector, Minister Tra shared that in 2021, the number of excellent students and young scientists attracted nationwide reached 2,891, with 1,100 at the central level and the remaining 1,791 at the local level.

Furthermore, localities have also developed specific policies to attract excellent students and talented individuals to the public sector. Following the issuance of Decree 140, specifically in the years 2022 and 2023, the country has attracted 584 individuals, including 170 at the central level and 414 at the local level.

However, the Minister of Home Affairs acknowledged that compared to the aspirations and demands for attracting excellent students and talented individuals to the public sector, there are still challenges to be addressed. Therefore, the Ministry of Home Affairs is currently providing advice and working on the basis of a strategy to attract talented individuals to the public sector, with the aim of concretizing it into a decree on attracting and promoting talented individuals in this sector.

According to Ms. Tra, this content is currently being refined, integrating Decree 140 to create more space to attract excellent students, young scientists, and talented individuals to the public sector.