Helsingin Sanomat reports that Finland’s two biggest political parties — the prime minister’s National Coalition Party and the opposition Social Democrats — support a proposal to abolish the country’s homecare allowance.
A working group has proposed to replace those benefits with expanded parental leave.
However, other parliamentary parties are against the proposal, according to the paper, citing a survey it carried out.
Currently the homecare allowance, paid out by Kela, is granted to families with children under the age of three. The paper said that many mothers choose to stay away from work and receive the benefit while continuing to care for their children after their parental leave period ends.
Jukka Kopra, chair of the NCP’s parliamentary group, said that the government is proposing to increase the number of parental leave days while abolishing the homecare allowance.
Meanwhile, the opposition Social Democrats’ parliamentary chair, Tytti Tuppurainen, said her party supports phasing out the homecare benefits, adding that such a proposal has been outlined in its recent political programme.
The SDP’s proposal leans toward a gradual phase-out of the homecare support, rather ending it outright. In its most recent shadow budget, the Social Democrats has proposed limiting home care support to families with kids under the age of two, and reducing early childhood education fees, according to HS.
The paper’s survey found the Christian Democrats to be most strongly opposed to the abolition of the homecare allowance. The Centre Party, the Finns Party and the Left Alliance are also against the idea.
At the same time, it said that the Greens and the Swedish People’s Party would like to see reform of the homecare support, but not abolish it.
Slippery error
The City of Helsinki’s road construction firm Stara has issued an apology for spreading a substance on city streets that made them slippery, causing some cycling accidents.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, Stara tried using the substance to bind and reduce street dust for the first time on Tuesday.
But for some reason, the application of the substance made sections of the street extremely slick and several cyclists fell to the ground.
Stara’s CEO, Karoliina Rajakallio, apologised for the mistake.
“We are truly sorry, this should not have happened,” she said.
Pyry Pennanen, head of Stara’s urban infrastructure maintenance unit, said it was the first time the firm tested the substance.
“The supplier assured us that the substance could be used safely to bind street dust. We believed it and followed up on it,” Pennanen told the paper.
HS said the substance that was diluted and spread on the streets is called Eco-Melter, a commonly used biodegradable de-icing agent.
The firm previously used calcium chloride to de-ice streets, which is also suitable for dust binding in the summer. However, the highly water-soluble inorganic compound was found to be harmful to groundwater, the paper noted.
As a replacement, Stara wanted to see whether Eco-Melter was also suitable for dust binding, in addition to its ice-melting properties.
Stara has ended the experiment and washed the substance off of the streets where it had been spread.
Stara’s boss Rajakallio said that cyclists who slipped on the affected streets should report the incident to the firm — including the location, time and circumstances.
She said that cyclists may be able to receive compensation from Stara if a physician determines that their fall caused injury.
“Of course it is our responsibility to ensure that no harm is caused to people on the street. We must not allow people to slip,” Rajakallio said.
Chickenpox, shingles vaccines
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has proposed an expansion of the country’s vaccination programme to offer more people protection against chickenpox and shingles.
Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet said that the proposal aims to offer the chickenpox vaccine to all adults who have not had the illness before.
Often a childhood disease, a case of chickenpox in adulthood can pose serious health issues, particularly among those with weakened immune systems and pregnant women, a ministry release explained, according to HBL.
Meanwhile, the ministry has proposed that the vaccine against shingles should be offered to people who have undergone an organ or stem cell transplant, or those who have suffered haematological cancer. Those groups are at particular risk for complications from a case of shingles.
HBL said the plans regarding shingles vaccination should enter into force at the beginning of February 2027, while the uptick in chickenpox jabs should start as soon as possible.
