Matias Mäkynen, a deputy chairperson of the Social Democrats, spoke during a question-time debate in the Parliament House in Helsinki on 2 May 2024. Mäkynen stated to Helsingin Sanomat last week that the government proposal to rationalise the social security simpler is commendable in principle but not without some serious risks. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)
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MEMBERS of Finnish opposition parties are supportive, with some reservations, of the goals of the social security reform outlined to Helsingin Sanomat last Wednesday by Minister of Social Security Sanni Grahn-Laasonen (NCP).
The newspaper wrote that a parliamentary task force has found an agreement on the first phase of the reform: combining the basic unemployment allowance and labour market subsidy into a universal benefit.
The cross-parliamentary consensus ends there, though.
Grahn-Laasonen on Wednesday stated that in subsequent phases of the reform process also other basic benefits, along with the housing allowance and income assistance, should be incorporated into the universal benefit.
Matias Mäkynen, a deputy chairperson of the Social Democrats, stated to Helsingin Sanomat that incorporating the housing allowance and income assistance into the universal benefit would be such a major change that the government should adopt a more patient approach to the reform.
“Rushing it comes with big risks,” he said.
He estimated that it would be difficult to incorporate such a high number of benefits into a single benefit without either undermining the livelihood of social security recipients or increasing social security expenditure.
Both the National Coalition and Christian Democratic Party have adopted the long-term goal of creating a universal benefit in the vein of Universal Credit, the combination of six social security benefits in the UK. Its introduction, though, has resulted in a drop in benefits for people in the most vulnerable position, contributing to child poverty and homelessness, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
The outcome could be the same in Finland, warned Li Andersson, the chairperson of the Left Alliance.
“Avoiding an outcome like that sounds very difficult especially when you account for the fact that this government has shown no willingness whatsoever to increase re
Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
