Social service in the system of social protection of the population: theoretical, methodological and financial aspects
Authors: Barannyk Liliia , Koriahina Tetyana , Taranenko Victoriia 
Published: November 2021

Relevance of research. Ukraine, according to its Constitution, is a social state, whose activities are aimed at creating conditions that ensure a dignified life and free human development. The evolution of such state occurs through the implementation of a social function, the meaning of which is to provide guarantees of a social nature, social protection, social attending, social partnership and the like. Formulation of the problem. With the implementation of socio-economic reforms in Ukraine in the early 90s, the system of providing social services to the population has undergone major changes. In Soviet times, social services were provided in the social security system in stationary institutions: nursing homes, orphanages, boarding schools (hospitals) for neuropsychiatric patients, etc. In terms of their goals and content, they were aimed at helping those categories of the population who could not independently serve themselves through loneliness, orphanhood, severe disability or illness. The transition to a market economic system, a sharp increase in the number of citizens in need of social protection in the early 90s, forced the state and the institution of local self-government, which appeared during the reforms, to rethink the role of social services in human life and the organization of their provision. Networks of state and municipal institutions began to be created, designed to provide specialized social assistance, which made it possible to form a new system of social attending for the population. The rapid growth of the population's needs for social services, their impact on the dynamics of the development of society and the nature of social relations, forced to take care of the financial sources for the provision of such services. However, this issue has not yet been finally resolved. The market economy requires the creation of a multi-channel system for financing of social protection of the population. Analysis of recent research and publications. Modern research on social attending are often carried out in the context of social policy, social work, or social assistance. Among foreign scientists studying social issues are T. E. Demidova, G. Inglehart, E. E. Machulskaya, V. Pareto, V. D. Roick, R. Titmus, E. I. Kholostova, S. Eisebi, L. Erhard, G. Esping-Andersen and many others. Among the latest publications of domestic authors, scientific articles should be named: S. A. Gorbunova-Ruban and I. M. Vitkovskaya, who analyze the activities of public organizations as subjects of the provision of social services in the city of Kharkov. К. Dubich research is dedicated to the issues of state management of social services; I. V. Meschan considers social services as a component of the system of social protection of the population from the standpoint of the sociological and managerial aspect and covers in detail the theoretical approaches to the concepts of “service” and “social service”; Popok A. and Greby G. make a structural and functional analysis of the system of social services in Ukraine; Rotar V. explores modern approaches to understanding the content of the category "social services"; Savchuk L. analyzes the reforming of the system of social services in the context of decentralization and some others. The financial aspects of social services are highlighted along with other issues of financial provision of social protection of the population. Unexplored parts of the general problem. Despite the number of works on social protection and social attending, it should be noted that the evolution of social protection, economic reforms in the country encourage further study of theoretical foundations and search for financial sources of social services, taking into account the difficult financial situation of the economy and implementation strategic course of Ukraine for European integration. Many questions of theoretical and methodological nature remain open. Problem statement, research objectives. The purpose of the article is to highlight the unsolved problems of social attending in Ukraine of a theoretical, methodological and financial nature, as well as to present the author's vision of their solution. To achieve the goal, the article sets and solves the following tasks: to analyze the theoretical and methodological foundations of social attending (services) for the population as one of the important elements of the social security system; to identify the features of the domestic model of financial provision of social attending; to determine the prospects for social attending in Ukraine. Method and methodology of the study. During the study, historical, analytical-empirical, inductive-deductive, comparative research methods were used to establish the theoretical and methodological foundations of social services in Ukraine, as well as to clarify some issues of financial support of the existing model of the system of social services in Ukraine. The method of expert assessments, the causal (cause-and-effect) method of scientific research were used for understanding of the state of the modern system of social services in Ukraine and to determine the directions for further research in this area. The results of study. The paper examines the theoretical, methodological and financial aspects of social attending, shows its structural and logical scheme, developed by the authors. It has been established that in economic theory and in practice concerning social attending there is confusion in basic concepts and terms. It is, first, because in Ukraine there is still no single normative legal act that would clearly define all controversial issues and regulate legal relations between the state and citizens on the issues of receiving various types of social assistance. It is argued that the concept of "social attending" should not be replaced by the concept of "provision of social services". It means the performance of work, functions related to the satisfaction of someone's requests or needs, so in its content is a broader concept, as it involves the creation of conditions for the development of social capital. Social attending is an independent element of the system of social protection of the population; it includes the provision of social services. The structural and logical scheme of social services is presented. It is shown that the system of social services in Ukraine is constantly in the process of modernization in accordance with the new needs of citizens and modern world approaches to social attending. Several approaches of scientists to social attending are analyzed. It is argued that in recent years, due to the war in the East of the country and the need to fight coronavirus infection during the 2020-2021 pandemic. There was a reorientation of spending on social protection and social security in favor of social attending, namely, the provision of social services to the population, as well as an increase in the remuneration of workers involved in this process. It was found that local budgets and the budgets of the united territorial communities became a significant factor in financial support in the context of the decentralization reform. The article presents the parameters of the provision of social services by united territorial communities (UTC). It is forms a general idea of the resource potential of UTC within certain regions and how actively they are involved in the process of social services to their residents. It is found out why the pilot project "Development of social services", intended for the development of social services of the UTC, failed in 2020. The assessments of domestic experts in the field of social attending were studied, which made it possible to form an idea of the advantages and disadvantages of the existing system of social services. Possible ways of its improvement are outlined. The creation of a multichannel financing system is named as a feature of financial support for social protection of the population, including social services. The authors note that budget funding should be allocated on a competitive basis, and a contract should be concluded with the winner for the provision of services at the expense of the budget. The mission of the state in this matter is to control the quality of social services, the timeliness and targeting of their provision, the targeted and rational use of funds. The provision of social services should be carried out on a competitive basis. The field of results application. The research results can be used in theory and practice in the field of social services. The indicated shortcomings of the existing system for the provision of social services and their analysis will be a useful source of information for developing ways to improve the domestic model of financial support for the provision of social services to the population of Ukraine. Conclusions. The study of the theoretical, methodological and financial aspects of social attending in Ukraine gives grounds to draw the following conclusions. Despite the adoption of a number of regulatory documents defining the concept of "social services", there is confusion in economic theory and in practice on the use of basic concepts and terms. It is because Ukraine still does not have a single regulatory legal act that would clearly define all these points and regulate the legal relationship between the state and citizens regarding the receipt of various types of social assistance. The concept of "social services" should not be replaced by the concept of "provision of social services". Social attending means the performance of work, functions related to the satisfaction of someone's needs or needs. Therefore, in its content, it is a broader concept, since it implies the creation of conditions for the development of social capital, and not only the provision of social services to vulnerable categories of the population or citizens who find themselves in a difficult life situation. This term should designate one of the elements of the social protection system of the population, which is engaged in the provision of social services. The system of social services in Ukraine is constantly in the process of renewal and modernization in accordance with the new needs of citizens and modern world approaches to social services. The adoption of the new edition of the Law "On social services" and the classifier of social services is an important step towards reforming the system of social services. A feature of the financial provision of social attending in a market economy is the creation of a multichannel financing system. It means that various subjects of the social services market should be involved in the provision of services, and the state should exercise control over their quality, targeted and rational use of funds, timeliness and targeting of their provision. The mission of the state in this matter is to help service providers financially on a competitive basis. The existing system for the provision of social services has a number of shortcomings. It still remains distant from the real needs of a specific person who needs social protection, so it cannot yet be considered effective. Prospects for further research should be conducted in the direction of deepening theoretical research in the following areas: A clearer definition of the economic and legal content of categories and concepts in the in the social security system; Development of the Social Code of Ukraine; Improvement of the domestic model of financial support for the in the social security system, including social attending for the population, for the delineation of financial powers between providers of social services, as well as the development of a methodology for assessing the financial efficiency of the provision of social services.