Law change to solve Soteri crisis

The Ministry is publishing a temporary legislative amendment to provide fast relief to the congestion of the Soteri register. Suomen Yrittäjät, the Finnish SME association, would like to see uniform ground rules applied to the public sector.

In recent weeks, the problems with the Soteri register of social service and healthcare service providers have heightened emotions among business owners in the sector. Professionals have vented their disappointment on social media. We have previously reported on the problems here, here and here.

Suomen Yrittäjät has demanded immediate action to solve the crisis faced by business owners in the social service and healthcare sector. Read the full list of our association’s demands here.

Now, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health says it has begun preparation of a temporary legislative amendment. The amendment would allow owners of small social services and healthcare businesses to begin operating immediately after submitting an application to the Soteri register, maintained by Valvira and the Regional State Administrative Agencies.

“It’s great that the ministry has finally begun preparing legislation. Our association has been trying to achieve a change in the law like this since March, when the volume of applications began to cause serious congestion,” says Harri Jaskari, a Vice President at Suomen Yrittäjät.

“The essential question is how fast it will proceed”

At present, 3,000 applications to the Soteri register await processing. Due to the wait, over 3,400 businesses have ceased operating. Government agencies have promised faster tackling of the congestions throughout the year, but the promise has not been fulfilled.

The register was launched at the start of the year, when the amendment to legislation on social and healthcare services entered into force. Under the amendment, providers of such services are required to register. Business owners must wait for a positive registration decision before starting to operate.

“Now, the essential question is how fast the legislative preparation will proceed and when the amended Act will enter into force. Business owners can’t wait a moment longer. We want to see fast preparation and a very short consultation period. The amended Act must enter into force this autumn,” Jaskari says.

The long waits have in the worst cases led to bankruptcies in the social service and healthcare sector. Some business owners have had to wind their companies down.

Jaskari says that the public sector must be ready to take similar steps in the future as well.

“In the future, it will be important to be able to react very quickly if there are similar administrative blunders or bureaucratic mishaps when new laws are made. It’s also a question of business owners’ freedom to conduct their businesses.”

“Different rules for the public sector”

The Ministry says that the purpose of the temporary regulation is to secure customer and patient safety. It is also aimed at insuring the availability of employees and services. The Ministry proposes expanding the registration procedure to public services only at the start of 2027. At present, congestion in the Soteri register is causing the most problems for healthcare professionals who run independent businesses.

“The public sector must be held to the same standard as the private sector. All players in the sector must state that they operate in line with the law. Now, there are different rules for the public sector,” Jaskari says.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health says it has issued orders “to achieve reasonable processing times” and instructed the Regional State Administrative Agencies to use the mutual support of other civil servants to process applications.

“The Ministry stresses how temporary the Act is. However, we can’t go back to the current state of affairs, and an Act fortunately cleansed of bureaucratic faults, until the authorities have ensured that applications are processed in less than two weeks. Otherwise, we could turn the temporary into the permanent,” Jaskari says.

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