"We at the SKA are well aware of the tight budget for social services and the need for additional funds to provide the best support to people," Maripuu said in the letter, as reported by Delfi.

According to the director, the specifics are still being clarified, but the cuts will most likely affect the following areas: children's rehabilitation, special care, family mediation, improving competence in substitute care, children's house, pastoral care, counseling for renouncing violence and access to psychosocial crisis aid.

The letter does not specify the extent of employee layoffs, but given the scale of the cuts, it is quite clear that layoffs will be necessary, Delfi notes.

The SKA must cut €400,000 from personnel and operating costs. "We need to discuss where and how we will find this money – what activities we will forego (e.g., children's Christmas packages) and whether layoffs are necessary," Maripuu assessed.

Additionally, Maripuu announced that the SKA has a €200,000 interest claim from the Tax Board. "The interest claim arose because we corrected the income declarations for pensions and benefits for the year 2023 this year."

Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets (SDE) commented on Maripuu's letter on ETV's "Esimene stuudio" on Wednesday evening, stating that such a letter came as a surprise to him and that it should not have been sent.

"We talked for a week how we're not willing to take from the most vulnerable. Which is when it must be said that there is no more to take from the Ministry of Social Affairs, and in my opinion, there really isn't any more to take."

According to Läänemets, he has understood from Social Protection Minister Signe Riisalo (Reform) that the Ministry of Social Affairs' savings should come from residual funds of certain programs, not at the expense of the most vulnerable. "This is another example of how across-the-board cuts are so blind that a number is agreed upon, and then, oops, it happened," Läänemets said.

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