Even a modern Administrative Services Centre (ASC) offering digital services cannot guarantee quality services if the community is unable to retain skilled staff. Decent remuneration, fair administrative fees, bringing services closer to the people, and the full implementation of the Law “On Administrative Procedure” – these are the key priorities on the legislative agenda as seen by Larysa Bilozir, Member of the Ukrainian Parliament and Chair of the Sub-Committee on Administrative Services and Administrative Procedures.

She raised this topic during the “Decentralisation 2026: Legislative Agenda” forum.

 

 

Decent remuneration – a key factor in quality service delivery

The results of the survey on legislative priorities, presented at the forum, showed that 68% of surveyed local government leaders consider amendments to the Law “On Service in Local Governments” regarding decent remuneration conditions to be the most important. The problem of retaining qualified staff due to low basic salaries is recognised by 80% of respondents.

According to Larysa Bilozir, this matter directly affects communities’ capacity to provide services to the residents.

‘You can create a modern space, build the most beautiful ASCs, provide digital services, and add 500–600 services to them. But local government staff are the foundation of quality service. We have a huge staffing problem at the local level.’

She presented the results of another survey conducted by international partners: only 5% of employees at Administrative Service Centres are satisfied with their salaries, whilst 37% are willing to continue working.

‘People often have their first contact with the state through the ASCs. But if we cannot provide proper conditions for those who deliver these services, we will not be able to implement any legislative decisions.’

Administrative fees and the financial sustainability of ASCs

Larysa Bilozir named the draft law on administrative fees as another priority. According to her, work on it has been continuing for many years, and a year has already passed since the first reading. The draft law is intended to establish clear and economically sound rules for determining fees for administrative services.

The MP emphasised that this is not about a formal increase in the cost of services, but about ensuring the sustainability of the work of the ASCs, updating equipment, and retaining qualified teams.

‘No service can be free in the public sector, because all taxpayers pay for such services anyway. We should be realistic: this needs to be done so that the ASCs can be self-sufficient. Very often, there is not even enough funding for equipment upgrades, paper, or basic supplies. We cannot allow the quality of services to deteriorate.’

According to Larysa Bilozir, a working group composed of representatives from different stakeholders worked on the draft law. She expressed the hope that the Parliament would be able to consider it by the end of the year.

Services should be closer to the people

Separately, the MP spoke about the necessity of decentralising administrative services. She cautioned against an approach whereby, under the banner of optimisation, services are taken away from communities and centralised in large state bodies.

‘I want our discussion to focus not on optimisation, but on the decentralisation of services – transferring them as far as possible to the local level. We need people. We constantly optimise, merge, and split ministries – and in doing so, we lose people.’

She referred to the difficulties in accessing certain services following their centralisation in the Pension Fund of Ukraine as an example. In her view, wherever possible, services should be provided through the ASCs, which are convenient access points for local residents.

Law on administrative procedure: Unrealised potential

Larysa Bilozir also drew attention to the Law ‘On Administrative Procedure’. It is intended to ensure clear rules for decision-making by public authorities, the right of individuals to know the grounds for a refusal, and the opportunity to appeal against decisions through pre-trial procedures.

In the MP’s view, the potential of this Law has so far only been partially realised.

‘Does it work fully? No. It works, perhaps, at 10–20% capacity. Its principles are mainly used in judicial practice at present, although the Law is about pre-litigation settlement, about resolving disputes concerning official acts, and about preventing the arbitrary behaviour of officials towards businesses and local residents.’

She emphasised that the Law should be fully implemented not only by the courts, but also by local governments, the Pension Fund, and the tax authorities.

‘We can have wonderful premises and excellent ASCs, but if there are no people – and they are the greatest asset – we will not be able to implement these draft laws.’

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For more information on the general legislative agenda outlined during the forum by representatives of the Parliament, the Government, and international partners, read the article “Delineation of powers, community resources and rules for frontline territories: Legislative agenda of decentralisation”.

The results of the survey of local government leaders on legislative priorities are available in the article “Remuneration, personal income tax, and legitimacy of councils: What community leaders named as legislative priorities”.