The Sectoral Council of Social Services Professionals of ISOTITAS is preparing a Plan for the Restructuring of Social Welfare Services (YKE) and will make it available to the public free of charge, according to a union announcement.
“According to information received by the Sectoral Council of Social Services Workers of the Pan-Cyprian Union ISOTITA, on Friday, October 30, 2026, an official from the relevant Sectoral Council of PASYDY, in collaboration with officials from the Central Administration of Social Welfare Services (YKE), reportedly drafted a reorganization plan that provides for the complete outsourcing of a significant number of key YKE functions to external entities. At the same time, according to the same sources, a list of Social Services Officers (SSOs) designated for transfer to other departments or divisions of the Civil Service is being compiled,” the statement adds.
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Citing this information, the union states that these two issues will be proposed by the PASYDY Sectoral Committee to KPMG, “which has been commissioned to conduct a study on the modernization of the Social Services, so that they can be presented as the solution to the Services’ problems and later implemented under the pretext that they were recommended by the experts.”
He goes on to say that if the information is accurate, “the result will be a drastic reduction in the scope of work of the Local Social Welfare Agencies and the backdoor privatization of social welfare, bearing the stamp of a consulting firm,” while noting that such decisions require institutional dialogue with all those who represent the Local Government Units, without exception.
It further states that lists of employees to be transferred “compiled outside any institutional process have no place in a well-governed civil service” and calls on the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare to deny “publicly and categorically” the existence of such a list or, if it exists, to state who requested it, who is compiling it, and according to what criteria. It also calls on the PASYDY Sectoral Council to publicly state whether it endorses what one of its officials is reportedly promoting.
The union reiterates its demand that tasks not falling within the scope of the Local Coordination Units (LKY) be removed from their purview and transferred to the relevant government agencies, but notes that the delegation to private individuals and NGOs of the core functions of social work— namely child protection, intervention in domestic violence, and support for the most vulnerable, is something entirely different, as it “leaves the responsibility with the state while depriving it of the means to fulfill it.”
Regarding the “Plan for the Restructuring of Social Welfare Services” being prepared by the Sectoral Council of Social Services Professionals of the Pan-Cyprian Union ISOTITA, he says that “it will clearly state what needs to be done, in what order, and within what timeframe: what constitutes the core work of the Social Services Officers, which tasks are being transferred and to which government agency, what the maximum caseload per worker is, how many staff members are needed, and how workplace safety will be ensured.”
The Plan will be presented at a press conference before the end of 2026 and will be submitted to the political and administrative leadership of the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare and to the House of Representatives, it adds, with the union noting that it is being offered “in the public interest, without political maneuvering,” and that it will not cost the government a single euro.
Source: CNA
