The TE reform will bring employment services to municipalities at the turn of the year
The aim is to ensure the smoothest transition phase services for customers
The responsibility for organizing public employment services will be transferred from the state to the municipalities at the beginning of 2025. TE offices will be abolished. As a result of the reform, 45 employment regions formed by municipalities will be formed in Finland, which are administratively responsible for organizing services.
Hankasalmi, Kannonkoski, Karstula, Kinnula, Kivijärvi, Konnevesi, Kyyjärvi, Laukaa, Pihtipudas, Saarijärvi, Uurainen, Viitasaari and Äänekoski have established the joint Northern Central Finland employment area, the responsibility of which is the city of Äänekoski.
The reform is a historically broad reform affecting the entire municipal field, which has required multidisciplinary preparedness and preparation in the municipalities.
In the transition phase, such a large-scale reform is also accompanied by challenges that temporarily threaten the smooth continuity of services. Various disturbances, outages and delays in the service are possible with the initial meters.
However, customers are at the center of this reform, and municipalities strive to prevent and minimize harm to customers through careful preparation.
Now we already know that Työmarkkinatori.fi website (which has e.g. electronic communication channels for job seekers and employers) will be down from 30.12.2024 December 2.1.2025 to 8 January XNUMX at XNUMX am. If you are already a TE services or municipal trial customer, you do not need to do anything special, even if the service provider changes at the turn of the year. We will inform you about possible changes on the websites of the employment area and municipalities, and we will also contact you personally if necessary.
If there are problems with the transfer of customer data from the state to the municipalities or with the implementation of information systems, this may be visible to customers, e.g. delayed payments or customer service congestion.
Every effort is made to prevent and minimize inconvenience to customers.
The Central Finland TE office reminds announcing that there will be a break in the processing of salary support and start-up money applications at the turn of the year. It's worth being on time with the applications and start the matter as soon as possible. Wage support and start-up money decisions will be processed in the TE office's system until 19.12.2024 December 1.1.2025. Applications submitted after this and unfinished application processes will be directed to employment areas starting on January XNUMX, XNUMX, so applications should be submitted well in advance. Processing of unfinished cases may be transferred to future labor authorities, and the change may cause delays in the processing of applications.
The TE reform is a major digital and personnel reform
The transition of TE services to municipalities means a transition from the centralized state system to a decentralized municipality-based service system. Even though TE offices will be abolished, the development and administration center of ELY centers and TE offices, or KEHA center, will continue to manage self-dealing channels for jobseekers and employers, the Labor Market and the centralized customer information system.
In addition to the centralized customer information system, the municipalities use their own systems for e.g. paying grants and requesting changes. During the preparation, the municipalities have had to build new interfaces and make sure of compatibility in order to successfully manage data management, archiving, user management and customer transfer both within the municipality, between municipalities and employment areas, and between municipalities and the state. The TE reform is therefore also a major digital reform.
In practice, the transition to the new model, both in terms of information systems, customer transfers and user rights, takes place overnight.
If there are problems with the transfer of customer data from the state to the municipalities or with the implementation of information systems, this may be visible to customers, e.g. delayed payments or customer service congestion.
As a result of the reform, more than 4400 employment promotion experts from TE offices will be transferred to the municipalities. About 65 new employees will move to Äänekoski. However, the municipalities do not have the authority to conduct change negotiations with regard to the transferred personnel until after the implementation of the reform, i.e. on January 1.1.2025, XNUMX.
Conducting cooperation negotiations takes time, which means that the personnel cannot start their work at full capacity right at the beginning of the year. This can be seen, for example, in getting customer service appointments, preparing statements and delays in payments.
The municipalities have a strong desire to ensure a smooth transition for customers
Individual and business customers are at the center of the TE reform, and municipalities strive to prevent and minimize harm to customers through careful preparation.
Municipalities do not start building a new service from scratch, but, for example, service and payment debts incurred before the turn of the year are transferred to the municipalities as such. According to KEHA's estimate, around 46 overdue discretionary expense allowances will be transferred to the municipalities, for example the allowances of Ukrainians.
In addition, funding for statutory duties is being transferred to municipalities undersized, and the service debt transferred from the state brings an additional challenge to municipalities.
The state reimburses the municipalities for the cost reimbursements related to the payment, but human resources are not reimbursed. Unloading queues eats up already scarce resources.
It is clear that it is not possible to reset the situation overnight or start operations at full capacity, but the municipalities are ready to take on the challenge and are doing their best. The municipalities have a strong desire to get the queues that move along with the services to be dismantled.
Every effort is made to prevent and minimize inconvenience to customers.
The municipalities' goal is to secure the smoothest possible services for customers during the transition phase. In the longer term, the municipalities' goal is to develop services to be even more effective by implementing services that are suitable for local needs and individually tailored.
Municipalities and employment areas have different operating models for the transition phase at the turn of the year. Municipalities will provide more detailed information about possible disruptions and their effects on their own channels.
We do everything we can to make the transition of services as little trouble as possible.
What TE reform?
- Public employment services will be transferred from the state's TE offices to the municipalities' responsibility on January 1.1.2025, 45. XNUMX employment regions formed by municipalities will be created in Finland.
- Most of the regions organize their services using the responsible municipality model, four municipalities organize their services themselves and two regions using the municipal corporation model.
- The concept of TE offices as such is not transferred to municipalities, but the reform is an opportunity for municipalities to do things in a new way.
- The reform brings services closer to customers. Municipalities know their residents and their business life best, which enables the implementation of services that are suitable for local needs and individually tailored.
- It's not just about promoting employment. With the strengthening of basic services, municipalities will get more tools to promote vitality.
For more information:
Employment regional director Tiina Mäenpää, 040 159 2610, tiina.maenpaa@aanekoski.fi
Read more about the preparation of the Northern Central Finland employment area here
News published, modified 29.11.2024 at 09:43