Determination of funding for wellbeing services counties 

The funding of wellbeing services counties must guarantee the provision of sufficient healthcare and social services in the manner required by the Constitution. 

The funding that the wellbeing services counties receive from the central government is universal. This means that the counties can decide how to use the funding themselves. 

The funding is also imputed. The calculation model takes into account several criteria, which are weighted in accordance with the Act on the Funding of Wellbeing Services Counties: 

• number of residents in the wellbeing services county; 
• coefficients describing the need for healthcare and social welfare services; 
• coefficients describing regional conditions; 
  • bilingualism; 
  • speakers of foreign languages; 
  • speakers of the Saami language; 
  • population density; and 
  • area consisting of archipelago. 

Some of the funding will be determined by the criteria for promoting health and wellbeing. The funding of rescue services will also be determined on the basis of a risk coefficient.
The funding of counties will be calculated annually using the latest statistics in order to correspond to changes in the service demand and other circumstances of each county. 

Annual review of funding

From the perspective of self-government and the long-term development of activities, it is important that funding to wellbeing services counties is predicable. In order to ensure predictability, it has been stipulated that the funding base for healthcare and social welfare will be raised annually based on estimated service demand and growth in the level of costs. The funding base for rescue services will be raised based on the growth in the level of costs. 

The level of funding will also take into account possible changes in the duties of the wellbeing services counties. 

Imputed funding granted to the wellbeing services counties will be retroactively adjusted annually to correspond to the actual costs at the national level. This will ensure that the imputed costs do not deviate from the actual costs. 

The funding model also includes incentives to manage the growth of costs, which will contribute to the sustainability of general government finances. For example, ex-post control of costs will be carried out at the national level. This means that the actual costs of all the wellbeing services counties will be added together. The sum will compared to the total funding granted to the wellbeing services counties. The difference between these figures will be adjusted to the level of central government funding for the following year. This being the case, there is no benefit for individual wellbeing services counties to exceed the central government funding granted to them.

Contact

Jenni Jaakkola, Ministerial Adviser, tel. 0295 530 570, jenni.jaakkola(a)gov.fi
Jussi Lindgren, Chief Specialist, tel. 02955 30293, jussi.lindgren(at)gov.fi
Roosa Valkama, Finance Specialist, tel. 02955 30560, roosa.valkama(at)gov.fi