Decree No. 161/2026/ND-CP on prescribing statutory pay rate and bonus regimes for cadres, civil servants, public employees and members of the armed forces

DECREE

PRESCRIBING STATUTORY PAY RATE AND BONUS REGIMES FOR CADRES, CIVIL SERVANTS, PUBLIC EMPLOYEES AND MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES

Pursuant to the Law on Government Organization No. 63/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Labor Code No. 45/2019/QH14;

Pursuant to the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 142/2024/QH15 regarding the Resolution of the 7^th Session of the 15^th National Assembly; the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 265/2025/QH15 regarding the Resolution of the 10^th Session of the 15^th National Assembly;

At the request of the Minister of Home Affairs of Vietnam;

The Government promulgates a Decree prescribing statutory pay rate and bonus regimes for cadres, civil servants, public employees and members of the armed forces.

Article 1. Scope

This Decree deals with the statutory pay rate applicable to salary earners, and the allowances and bonus regimes applicable to salary earners working in agencies, organizations, and public service units of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the State, the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations affiliated to the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, and social organizations performing tasks assigned by the State (hereinafter referred to as “agencies and units”) at the central level, in central-affiliated cities and provinces (hereinafter referred to as “provincial level”), in communes, wards, and special zones under the provincial-level authority (hereinafter referred to as “commune-level”), in special administrative-economic units, and in the armed forces.

Article 2. Regulated entities

1. Persons receiving salaries and allowances calculated on the basis of the statutory pay rate prescribed in Article 1 of this Decree shall include:

a) Cadres and civil servants from the central level down to commune level as prescribed in Article 1 of the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants;

b) Public employees working in public service units as prescribed in Article 1 of the Law on Public Employees;

c) Persons working under employment contracts in administrative agencies and public service units where, pursuant to the relevant Government’s Decree, such persons are eligible for, or have agreed under the signed employment contracts to, salary arrangement in conformity with the Government’s Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP dated December 14, 2004 prescribing salary regimes for cadres, civil servants, public employees and members of the armed forces;

d) Persons working on the approved payroll in state-funded associations as defined in the Government’s Decree No. 126/2024/ND-CP dated October 08, 2024 prescribing organization, operation and management of associations;

dd) Officers, non-commissioned officers, national defense workers and public employees, national defense civil servant, and contractual employees of the People’s Army of Vietnam;

e) Salaried officers and non-commissioned officers, public security workers and contractual employees of the People’s Public Security of Vietnam.

g) Persons working in cryptography organizations;

h) Non-commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers of the People’s Army of Vietnam; non-commissioned officers and conscript soldiers of the People’s Public Security of Vietnam;

i) Persons working on a part-time basis in villages and residential groups.

2. Salaried persons mentioned in points a, b, c, d, dd, e and g clause 1 of this Article (excluding those receiving allowances or subsistence allowances) shall be subject to the bonus regimes.

Article 3. Statutory pay rate

1. The statutory pay rate shall be used as the basis for:

a) Calculating the salary levels set out in payrolls, allowance amounts, and other benefits as prescribed by law for the entities defined in Article 2 of this Decree;

b) Calculating operational expense allowances and subsistence allowances as prescribed by law;

c) Calculating mandatory contributions and benefits determined by reference to the statutory pay rate.

2. From July 01, 2026, the statutory pay rate shall be VND 2.530.000 per month.

3. With respect to the central-level agencies and units that are currently subject to the specific financial and income mechanism in accordance with point c clause 6.2 of the Resolution No. 142/2024/QH15 dated June 29, 2024 of the 7^th Session of the 15^th National Assembly, the difference between the salaries and additional incomes in June 2026 of cadres, civil servants, and public employees, and their salaries effective from July 01, 2026 shall be retained upon the amendment or abrogation of such specific financial and income mechanisms. Pending the amendment or abrogation of such specific financial and income mechanisms, the monthly salaries and additional incomes will be calculated on the basis of the statutory pay rate of VND 2.530.000 per month as prescribed under such specific mechanisms from July 01, 2026, provided that they shall not exceed the salaries and additional incomes received in June, 2026 (excluding those resulting from adjustments to rank- or grade-based pay rate).

With respect to agencies and units that are currently retaining the difference between the salaries and additional incomes in June 2024 and the salaries effective from July 01, 2024 as a result of the amendment or abrogation of specific financial and income mechanisms, such retained difference shall be proportionally reduced in accordance with the increase in the statutory pay rate with effect from July 01, 2026.

Where the application of the foregoing principles results in salaries and additional incomes effective from July 01, 2026 falling below those prescribed by the general salary regime, the general salary regime shall prevail.

4. The Government shall consider adjusting the statutory pay rate following submission of a report to the National Assembly for consideration and decision in conformity with the capacity of the state budget, consumer price index, and the national economic growth rate.

Article 4. Bonus regimes

1. Bonus regimes shall be implemented on the basis of outstanding work performance and the results of annual monitoring and performance evaluations in respect of the entities referred to in Clause 2 Article 2 of this Decree.

2. The bonus regimes prescribed in clause 1 of this Article shall be applied to grant ad hoc bonuses for outstanding work performance and periodic annual bonuses based on quarterly and semi-annual monitoring and performance evaluations, and annual quality classification of each individual on the payroll of the agency or unit concerned, and shall be implemented in accordance with Bonus Regulations formulated and issued by the head of the armed forces unit as prescribed by the Ministry of National Defense or the Ministry of Public Security, the head of the authority having the power to manage, or is delegated to manage, cadres and civil servants, or the head of the public service unit.   Such Bonus Regulations shall be submitted to the immediately superior authority for supervision and inspection, and shall be made publicly available within the agency or unit.

3. The Bonus Regulations of an agency or unit as prescribed in clause 2 of this Article shall, inter alia, include the following contents:

a) Scope and subjects of application;

b) Criteria for grant of ad hoc bonuses for outstanding work performance and grant of bonuses based on quarterly and semi-annual monitoring and performance evaluations, and annual quality classification of individuals on the payroll of the agency or unit concerned;

c) Specific bonus amounts applicable to each case, which is not necessarily required to be linked to the salary coefficient of each individual;

d) Procedures and processes for bonus consideration and approval;

dd) Other regulations as may be required to meet the specific management requirements of the agency of unit (where necessary).

4. The annual bonus fund as prescribed in this Article shall be separate from the commendation and reward fund established in accordance with the Law on Emulation and Commendation, and shall be equal to 10% of the total salary fund (excluding allowances) calculated on the basis of the positions, titles, grades, salary steps, and military ranks of the persons on the payroll of the agency or unit.

At the end of the budget year, including the period for finalization adjustments, where an agency or unit has not fully used its annual bonus fund, any portion of the approved budget allocation that remains unused shall be cancelled, or any unused advances shall be returned to the state budget.

Article 5. Funding

1. Funding of Ministries and central-government authorities:

a) Use 10% of the savings from the funding for recurrent expenditures (excluding salaries, salary-based allowances, salary-equivalent payments, and other personnel-related expenditures) in the 2026’s budget estimates as increased compared to the 2025’s budget estimates assigned by competent authorities;

b) Use at least 40% of the revenues retained in accordance with applicable regulations in 2026, after deducting costs directly related to service provision and fee collection. With respect to revenues derived from the provision of medical examination and treatment services, preventive medicine services, and other healthcare services by public health facilities, at least 35% of such revenues shall be used after deducting costs directly related to service provision and fee collection;

c) Use the remaining funding for salary reform of 2025 carried forward (if any).

2. Funding of provincial-level authorities:

a) Use 70% of the increase in actual local-government budget revenues in 2025 in comparison with the revenue estimates assigned by the Prime Minister (excluding revenues from land-use levies; lottery activities; equitization of and divestment from state-own enterprises managed by provincial-level authorities, and other revenues excluded in accordance with the National Assembly’s Resolutions and the Prime Minister’s Decisions);

b) Use 50% of the increase in estimated local-government budget revenues for 2026, 2025, and 2024 in comparison with the revenue estimates of the previous year assigned by the Prime Minister (excluding revenues from land-use levies; lottery activities; equitization of and divestment from state-own enterprises managed by provincial-level authorities, and other revenues excluded in accordance with the National Assembly’s Resolutions and the Prime Minister’s Decisions);

c) Use 10% of the savings of the funding for recurrent expenditures (excluding salaries, salary-based allowances and contributions, salary-equivalent payments, and other personnel-related costs) in the 2026’s budget estimates assigned by competent authorities, including: 10% of the estimated funding for recurrent expenditures for 2023, 10% of the increase in the estimated funding for recurrent expenditures for 2024 compared with 2023, 10% of the increase in the estimated funding for recurrent expenditures for 2025 compared with 2024, and 10% of the increase in the estimated funding for recurrent expenditures for 2026 compared with 2025;

d) Use the remaining funding for salary reform as of the end of 2025 carried forward (if any);

dd) Use the savings of local government budget-derived funding for covering recurrent expenditures (including salary and operational expenditures as prescribed by law) arising from workforce downsizing and organizational restructuring in implementation of the 02-level local government model;

e) Use at least 40% of the revenues retained in accordance with applicable regulations in 2026, after deducting costs directly related to service provision and fee collection. With respect to revenues derived from the provision of medical examination and treatment services, preventive medicine services, and other healthcare services by public health facilities, at least 35% of such revenues shall be used.

3. The central-government budget shall provide additional funding to Ministries, ministerial agencies, other central-government authorities, and provincial-level authorities, in order to cover any shortfall in funding arising from the adjustment of the statutory pay rate and the implementation of bonus regimes in 2026, following the implementation of provisions in clause 1 and clause 2 of this Article.

4. Funding of public service units that are fully self-financing their both recurrent and investment expenditures (Group 1) and public service units that are fully self-financing their recurrent expenditures (Group 2): Funding for salary reform and implementation of bonus regimes for public employees and workers in Group 1 and Group 2 public service units shall be self-covered by such units in accordance with the Government’s Decree No. 60/2021/ND-CP dated June 21, 2021, the Government’s Decree No. 111/2025/ND-CP dated May 22, 2025, and any amending, supplementing, or replacing instruments thereto (if any).

Article 6. Effect

1. This Decree comes into force from July 01, 2026.

2. The Government’s Decree No. 73/2024/ND-CP dated June 30, 2024 shall cease to have effect from the effective date of this Decree.

Article 7. Responsibility for implementation

1. The Minister of Home Affairs of Vietnam shall provide guidance on the implementation of this Decree regarding the statutory pay rate for salary and allowance recipients in agencies, organizations and public service units of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the State, the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, and socio-political organizations, and associations.

2. The Minister of National Defense of Vietnam and the Minister of Public Security of Vietnam shall provide guidance on the implementation of this Decree regarding individuals under their management.

3. The Minister of Finance of Vietnam shall:

a) provide guidance on determination of demands, funding sources, and payment methods for implementing the statutory pay rate and bonus regimes prescribed in this Decree, as well as the scope of revenues retained as prescribed in point b clause 1 and point e clause 2 Article 5 of this Decree;

b) provide guidance on the payment of salaries and incomes for central-level agencies and units that are implementing the specific financial and income mechanisms as prescribed in Clause 3 Article 3 of this Decree pending the amendment or abrogation of such specific financial and income mechanisms;

c) prepare and submit a consolidated report on funding demands to competent authorities for allocation of additional funding to cover any shortfall arising from the adjustment of the statutory pay rate and the implementation of the bonus regimes for ministries, ministerial agencies, other central-government authorities, and provincial-level authorities in accordance with this Decree.

4. Ministers, heads of ministerial agencies, Chairpersons of People’s Committees of central-affiliated cities or provinces, and relevant authorities, organizations and individuals shall be responsible for the implementation of this Decree.