Healthcare | The state threatens to take control of some of the welfare areas – This is what it means

Treasury said on Tuesday that some of Finland’s welfare areas have increased the risk of being subject to an evaluation procedure. The proceedings may possibly start already this fall.

There are six welfare areas under the special supervision of the Ministry of Finance.

One of them is the welfare area of ​​Vantaa and Kerava, which applied for additional funding from the state in vain. Area manager Timo Aronkytö told HS last Fridaythat the ministry has told the region from time to time, “that the evaluation procedure in 2026 is one option”.

So what is the assessment procedure in question, which seems to cause ripples of fear in welfare areas, and which the Ministry of Finance seems to be happy to use as a deterrent?

Procedure practically means that the state takes the reins in the region and sets out to heal the region’s economy.

The management of the welfare area will not be removed, but the area’s self-governance will be significantly limited. The welfare regions have elected councils, whose voting power is reduced during the assessment procedure.

At the end point, the abolition of the welfare area and its merger with another area may loom. It would be a sad end for many areas where hard work has been done after the health and safety services and rescue operations were transferred from those municipalities.

Ministry of Finance head of department of welfare areas guidance department Ville-Veikko Ahonen says that the six regions named by the ministry, i.e. Lapland, Central Finland, Kanta-Häme, Satakunta, Itä-Uusimaa and Vantaa-Kerava, are not yet in the evaluation process, nor are they in the preliminary stage.

However, they are already under the stronger guidance of the ministry.

“We want to have detailed support discussions with these areas. It’s a completely different question whether assessment procedures will go live in the fall for an individual area,” says Ahonen.

Ahonen thinks that there are conflicting ideas about the assessment procedure in the regions.

“From the point of view of political decision-makers, the procedure narrows the democratic process, as the decision-making of councils in particular is limited. But from the point of view of the regional administration, I could imagine that the procedure is even a relief”, Ahonen estimates.

According to him, the evaluation procedure can bring certainty and peace of mind to senior management, as well as a clear schedule on how to balance operations and finances.

Welfare area the evaluation procedure can start in two ways: the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health can initiate it to the Ministry of Health, if it thinks that the statutory health care services for people in the area have been compromised, and it is not temporary.

Another option is for VM to initiate the evaluation procedure itself. There are a few criteria related to the economy, one of which has been highlighted a lot: the procedure can start if the region has not covered the deficit accumulated on its balance sheet within the deadline.

Last year’s and this year’s deficits must be covered by the end of 2026, which seems impossible for some regions.

If the assessment procedure starts, a separate assessment group will be appointed to do it. The ministries and the region nominate the members together. An important person in the group is the independent chairman.

“This is not an easy or thankless task,” says Ahonen.

The regional administration will continue its work as before.

“At the end of the day, the evaluation procedure is not a scary situation,” says Ahonen.

The group begins to make a plan for organizing services in the welfare area and balancing the economy. There is no statutory time limit for the assessment procedure.

Municipalities have a similar type of evaluation procedure, which has typically lasted from a few months to half a year.

In the welfare area the regional council must process the proposals for measures made by the assessment group and inform the Ministry of Finance of its decision regarding them.

The regional council must, for example, make budgets in accordance with the plan of the evaluation group, even if it takes a lot of space in the area.

“If the regions make cross-cutting decisions, ultimately the state can make rectification demands or even appeal to the administrative court,” says Ahonen.

According to Ahonen, in the assessment procedure, the region can get a longer time frame to cover its deficit. On the other hand, the evaluation procedure cannot result in the region receiving additional funding from the state.

If the balancing is successful, VM can declare that the evaluation procedure has ended. It can also happen that, based on the proposals for measures and the regional council’s decisions, the Ministry of Interior appoints an area division evaluator, who will start investigating the change of the area.