MLL regional branch plans to terminate all seven employees

The Häme regional branch of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare plans to terminate all seven of its permanent employees by the end of the year, Yle reports. The organisation faces the risk of ending its operations entirely because funding for 2027 is uncertain.

The branch’s board has begun staff adjustment measures on financial and production-related grounds, as the level of state grants for social and health organisations next year is not yet known.

The measures will affect all seven permanent employees, including executive director Päivi Meduri. Employment contracts will be terminated in stages, within the applicable notice periods. The first terminations will take place immediately and the rest by the end of the year.

The branch relies heavily on state grants from the Funding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organisations, known as STEA. It says it has no financial reserves to cover salary and notice-period costs if the grants fall substantially.

Without funding, all of the branch’s activities could disappear or at least be significantly reduced. Fewer employees would also limit its ability to support and train new volunteers.

The Häme branch provides professional support to local associations and runs family mentoring, reading grandparent and grandchild activities, and the Mannerheim League’s peer student activities in the regions of Kanta-Häme, Päijät-Häme and Pirkanmaa.

In 2025, nearly 10,000 volunteers from the branch and local associations in the region enabled 158,500 encounters with children, young people and families.

Board chair Sari Orhanen said in a statement that the situation was unreasonable for both the employees and the organisation. She said the regional organisation did not have the resources to make up for lost funding through fundraising and that all possible administrative cuts had already been made.

If the organisation’s financial conditions are secured, the terminations will be withdrawn. The final scope of operations and the number of employees will be decided once the funding decisions have been made.