The Ministry of Home Affairs is seeking public input on the draft Law amending and supplementing several articles of the Social Insurance Law. If approved, the amended Law is expected to take effect from June 1, 2026.
According to the Ministry, the implementation of the 2024 Social Insurance Law (effective from July 1, 2025) has been largely smooth. However, recent restructuring of the political system and local government machinery, along with changes in the functions, tasks, and organizational structure of state management agencies and social insurance policy implementation bodies, necessitate these amendments.
Social Insurance officers in Ho Chi Minh City educating citizens on social insurance policies
Specifically, the Local Government Law passed by the National Assembly on June 16, 2025, reorganizes administrative units into two levels: provinces/centrally-administered cities and communes/wards/special zones under provincial jurisdiction. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs was removed from the government structure on March 1, 2025. Responsibilities related to social insurance policies, such as unified management and policy reform, were transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Vietnam Social Insurance is now a specialized unit under the Ministry of Finance, and trade unions are socio-political organizations under the Vietnam Fatherland Front.
Additionally, the 2025 Inspection Law eliminates “specialized inspections,” introducing new regulations on specialized inspections by state management agencies (Decree No. 217/2025/NĐ-CP). The Ministry of Health is tasked with drafting and issuing legal documents, policies, and plans for social retirement pensions (Decree No. 42/2025/NĐ-CP).
These amendments aim to ensure consistency with other legal systems related to political and local government restructuring, providing a legal framework for state management and social insurance policy implementation.
The Ministry of Home Affairs emphasizes that the amendments will retain current provisions suitable for practical implementation, maintaining core policy content while updating organizational structure-related articles. This ensures uniformity in execution, avoids conflicts between ministries, and aligns with the new two-tier local government model (provincial and communal levels).
The draft proposes amendments to provisions on the position, responsibilities, and authority of social insurance agencies; the roles of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and trade unions; state management of social insurance by ministries, sectors, and localities post-restructuring; and updated names of ministries and agencies to align with the Constitution, Local Government Law, and Inspection Law.
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