The Progressive Social Security group, which is part of the Social Security Board (SSB), will submit a proposal to remove the Social Security Office (SSO) from the Labour Ministry's supervision to increase transparency and allow professional administrators to better manage the fund.
The group recently shared a document stating that it intends to present an urgent agenda to the SSB chairman or the Labour Ministry's permanent secretary to request the addition of this issue to the board's meetings.
It calls for various changes to the current system, such as releasing meeting minutes on the SSO's website, live-streaming meetings and reforming personnel management.
In a recent Facebook post, the Progressive Social Security group also announced plans to propose a legal reform that would remove the SSO from the public administration system, making it independent, similar to the Government Pension Fund (GPF).
The group argues that since the GPF is not a government agency and is able to hire professional managers to oversee its funds, there is no reason why the SSO, which provides pensions to the public, should remain a "department" controlled by the Labour Ministry.
Therefore, it will propose a law to remove the agency from the government's jurisdiction and allow capable and willing individuals to manage it.
Meanwhile, Kritsada Theerakosonphong, a lecturer from Thammasat University's Faculty of Social Administration, expressed support for the reform, explaining that it is aimed at creating transparency and allowing professional management to protect the Social Security Fund (SSF) from global risks such as economic downturns, natural disasters and pandemics.
Mr Kritsada noted that the labour union has been calling for this change for decades, and with increasing public consensus on the need for reform, pushing this idea forward may be easier than other proposed reforms.
"If we only focus on attracting people into the social security system, it will not necessarily increase the income or the available funds. As more people join, the payout rate is also likely to increase. Therefore, there must be professional fund managers who manage the contributions from fund members, allowing the funds to grow more," he said.
He also suggested revising the SSB's current composition, emphasising that employee representatives should be more numerous than government or employer representatives.
The SSF is Thailand's largest public fund -- valued at 2.65 trillion baht -- providing welfare and financial security to 24 million members.
