During Yle's regional and municipal election debate on Tuesday, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) talked about his government's plan to implement further cuts to social and healthcare services.
The government has been looking to find additional savings of approximately 170 million euros from social services and specialised healthcare budget cuts.
On Tuesday, opposition parties jointly announced they would will submit an interpellation question, urgently demanding information about the government's new cuts.
When questioned about the cuts during the debate, Orpo confirmed that the government's savings plans are expected to be presented this week, likely before Thursday.
Among the cuts, 100 million euros will affect social services, while savings from within specialised healthcare services are projected to be 10 million euros in 2026, 30 million euros in 2027, and 70 million euros in 2028.
Meanwhile, an additional 70 million euro cut is planned for education budgets.
Orpo emphasised that key services will be protected, and savings will not be sought from them. However, he did not provide further details.
Opposition concerned
Leader of the SDP parliamentary group, Tytti Tuppurainen, expressed deep concern over the additional cuts.
"The cuts to social services, specialised healthcare, and education jeopardise essential services for citizens," she said.
"Finnish people have the right to know what is being cut in the coming weeks. The government has already missed its own deadlines," said Hilkka Kemppi, the vice-chair of the Centre Party.
The opposition questioned why the government appeared to be keeping the cuts secret, suggesting that it may be a political tactic ahead of upcoming elections.
The regional and municipal elections will be held in mid-April, with early voting starting on April 2nd.
A recent All Points North podcast discusses why you should care about local politics. Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
STT: Cuts in child protection, disability and elderly care
According to STT sources, cuts to child protection, disability services, and elderly care are on the government's discussion table.
A restriction regarding age-related criteria affecting the provision of disability services has also been under discussion.
STT reported that there are plans to reintroduce this restriction into the law later this spring, potentially reformulating it to address constitutional concerns.
The aim is to reduce the number of people who are eligible for special services under the disability services law.
In practice, this change means that elderly people with disabilities would lose related benefits if their disability is age related.
It is said that such a change could reduce costs by an estimated 20 million euros per year.
Discussions on fees and deadlines
According to STT, discussions on specialised healthcare also involve measures related to service deadlines and various fees. A reform of hospital task distribution aims to save 25 million euros annually, starting next year.
Sources told the news agency that government negotiations are cautiously seeking to minimise harm as they try to find areas where savings can be made. There is no desire for major changes, including ones affecting staff-client ratios.
Since the beginning of the year, the government has set the staffing ratio for elderly round-the-clock care for the elderly at 0.6 workers per client, down from the previous minimum of 0.65 per client.
Within child protection services, the staffing ratio allows one social worker to handle a maximum of 30 cases at a time.
A resolution on the savings may be reached by the end of this week or early next week, according to STT.
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