Collective agreement reached in the private social services sector – pay settlement benefits practical nurses
The negotiating parties have today reached a new collective agreement in the private social services sector. The parties to the agreement are SuPer as part of Sote ry (SuPer, Tehy and Erto) as well as Pro, Talentia and the Finnish Association of Private Care Providers.
“Overall, the settlement is good for practical nurses in the current very difficult societal situation and provides a clear signal that the pay gap between the public and private sectors will continue to be narrowed,” says SuPer’s President Päivi Inberg. “The pay settlement particularly takes practical nurses into account, and for most of them, pay increases will be above the general line.”
“I am pleased that we were finally able to come to a reasonable settlement in a very challenging situation. The pay settlement is favourable for practical nurses. The negotiations were difficult. The settlement was ultimately achieved by increasing the share of general increases and removing the local adjustment component,” says Jukka Parkkola, SuPer’s Contract Negotiator.
“The settlement also contains elements that promote equality. This provides a good foundation for continuing our joint effort to develop the private social services sector,” says Pia Zaerens, Chief of Negotiations for the private sector.
All ongoing industrial action will cease immediately: work will continue as normal and the planned strike has been cancelled.
SOSTES pay settlement
The agreement period is 28 months from 1 January 2026 to 30 April 2028.
The pay settlement particularly takes practical nurses into account: targeted adjustments to service-based increments (so-called experience increments) will primarily apply to the practical nurses’ pay grade.
The parties commit to jointly reviewing the economic situation and outlook of the sector in December 2026. Either party may terminate the collective agreement to end on 30 April 2027.
Pay increases in 2026
- 1 September 2026: General and pay-scale increase 2.7%
- 1 September 2026: Targeted adjustments to minimum wages and service-based increments for different pay grades as follows:
- Minimum pay-scale rates will be increased by 0.5% in all other pay grades, except for pay grade B, care assistants, where the increase will be 0.4%.
- Service-based increments will be harmonised so that:
- the 5-year service-based increment is at least 3%
- the 8-year service-based increment is at least 6%
- the 11-year service-based increment is at least 9.1%.
The total cost impact of these targeted adjustments is 0.7%.
Pay increases in 2027
- 1 September 2027: General and pay-scale increase 2.7%
The total cumulative pay increase over the 28-month agreement period is 6.2% across the sector. Eighty-five percent of practical nurses will be paid according to pay grade G20C. At best, the total increase in the 11-year pay grade amounts to 6.93%.
Improvements and clarifications to agreement text
Improvements and clarifications have been made to the text of the collective agreement, for example in relation to promoting equality.
An employee is entitled to pay during pregnancy and/or parental leave even if they begin family leave while on statutory study leave under the Study Leave Act, provided that the employee would have been entitled to pay during family leave under the collective agreement had they been at work.
As part of their joint equality work, the negotiating parties have agreed to cooperate in monitoring the use of fixed-term employment contracts and the impact of any legislative changes on employment relationships in the private social services sector. The negotiating parties consider it important that sector-wide practices related to equality are reviewed regularly.
Published in English 2.3.2026.