Currently, administrative procedures for the settlement of survivorship, occupational accident and disease benefits have been carried out on the national public service portal. However, most citizens and employers still have the habit of submitting paper documents. Therefore, people or employers located far from the social security agency spend a lot of time and travel costs. 

A social insurance officer in Viet Yen district guides a resident to apply for occupational accident benefit.

After receiving the application, the district social security agency will transfer it to the provincial one for settlement under its competence. This method has been maintained for many years and the policy settlement department at provincial level is always overloaded because they have to process many different applications from organizations and units in the province at the same time. 

In addition, in many cases, the dossiers are transferred to the provincial social security agency, but due to arising problems, they must be returned for supplementation, consuming more time of officers, cirizens and employers, and delaying the processing progress.

From April 1, 2023, procedures are received and handled at the district level. Nguyen Quang Quyen, Deputy Director of the provincial social security agency, said: “In order to facilitate the district-level implementation of the new process, his agency has organized professional training to instruct district-level staff to perform on the system. After a period of trial operation, we recognized that the new method is feasible and decided to officially deploy it. We also require the units to arrange staff with experience and professional expertise to take on the work".

Currently, the social insurance sector has 270 officers and employees. The staff on the payroll at the provincial and district levels has been streamlined, while the workload is increasingly heavy, with many arising documents needing to be processed. Since 2022, the sector has handled procedures for more than 168,000 people to enjoy their benefits in line with regulations. Of which, over 1,400 cases received survivorship allowance while 116 others got occupational accident and disease benefits. 

In an effort to reform administrative procedures in the whole sector, leaders of the provincial social security agency has regularly directed specialized units to review and optimize the application processing process; promoted the proactiveness, creativity and high sense of responsibility of officers and employees; and created the most favorable conditions for organizations and citizens.

After more than a week of implementing the new process, Yen Dung, Viet Yen, Hiep Hoa and Luc Ngan districts saw an increasing number of applications which have been quickly received and handled by the social security staff in line with regulations. 

A provincial social security officer guides a citizen to look up information on procedures for social insurance benefits.

Pham Thi Mua, a social insurance officer of Yen Dung district, said that in the past, the staff only received applications and then transferred them to the provincial social security agency for settlement, but now the dossiers are received and handled on the spot. This task requires the higher responsibility of officers to carefully review the documents.

According to the leader of the provincial social security agency, the specialized department of information technology and benefit settlement at the unit always supervises the implementation process and is ready to support district officers when necessary. 

To improve service quality, the agency has directed the districts to promote communication work and guide residents to receive survivorship, occupational accident and disease benefits through bank accounts or postal services, thus saving time and travel costs.

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