Social services and organizational legal forms of their provision

Some issues regarding the organizational and legal forms through which individuals exercise their right to social services are discussed in the article. Based on the Constitution of Ukraine, an analysis of the legislation regulating the mechanisms for providing social services is carried out. It is argued that to ensure consistency in the use of legal concepts within national legislation, the concept of social services as provided by the Law of Ukraine “On Mandatory State Pension Insurance” requires substantial alignment with the Law of Ukraine “On Social Services”. The provision of social services within the relevant mechanism as a component of the organizational and legal form of mandatory state social insurance is not legislatively stipulated. It is proven that the current legislation on mandatory state social insurance regarding the provision of social services to those injured in industrial accidents is synchronized with the legislation on social services in terms of assessing the individual’s need for social services, types of social services, and the procedure for procuring these services. A specific feature is that the exhaustively defined social services (home care and in-kind assistance) within the industrial accident insurance programs can be compensated with a fixed amount of money, as established by legislation. It has been found that the services provided by employers within the mandatory state social insurance for unemployment are not social in nature. These are aids or compensations, or programs or measures to promote employment. It is recommended to make appropriate amendments to Article 24 of the Law of Ukraine “On Employment of the Population” as well as to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution № 237 dated 17.03.2023. The author concludes that social services as a type of social protection in Ukraine are provided within the organizational and legal form of budgetary support funded by local and regional budgets. Currently, the State Budget is the financial source for the procurement of social services exclusively within the framework of experimental projects aimed at introducing new social services of national significance. It is concluded that the institutional approach to budgetary financing of mechanisms for providing social services reduces the effectiveness of these services, does not promote the development of market mechanisms in the field of social service provision, and does not initiate competition mechanisms in this area. Therefore, it requires review and primarily legislative reform of budgetary norms in this field.