Reforming Administrative Services

Optimisation of the administrative service delivery system is one of the areas of public administration reform and a task of the Public Administration Reform Strategy of Ukraine for 2022–2025, which aims to “create conditions under which individuals and legal entities receive high-quality and accessible administrative services through convenient and understandable procedures”. Improving the accessibility of administrative services in the context of public administration reform is mentioned in the conclusions of the European Commission. In addition, bringing services closer to citizens is a key aspect of decentralisation. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government in Ukraine”, organisational support for the provision of administrative services through administrative service centres (ASCs) is a delegated responsibility of local self-government bodies (LSGs).

The Public Administration Reform Strategy envisages several indicators of reform progress in the area of administrative services, in particular: 

• the level of citizen satisfaction with the quality of administrative services (target values for 2025: 80% in ASCs, 70% in government agencies, and 90% in electronic form);
• the number of electronic public services (including through the Unified State Web Portal) (target for 2025: 250 services);
• share of electronic resources for interaction and exchange through the Trembita system (target for 2025: 90%);
• the level of integration of certain administrative services in the ASC (targets for 2025: civil status registration services, social services — 90%, services related to passport issuance and processing — 80%, services related to pensions, taxation services for citizens, registration (re-registration) of vehicles and issuance (exchange) of driver’s licences — 50%);
• compliance of the ASC network with the administrative and territorial structure (targets for 2025: ASCs in district centres — 80%, ASCs in communities — 80%);
• number of simplified procedures for the provision of administrative services (target for 2025: 5);
• implementation of the law on administrative procedure (targets for 2025: 90% of the required laws submitted to the Parliament, 80% of civil servants trained in the relevant procedures).

In addition to the list of indicators, the Strategy contains several tasks:

1. development of the ASC network;
2. ensuring further integration of services into ASCs and decentralisation of powers;
3. implementation of a unified system for monitoring and evaluating the quality of administrative service delivery;
4. review and optimisation of administrative service delivery procedures.

The Strategy envisages quarterly monitoring and preparation of annual reports on the implementation of the Strategy’s measures. In the latest report for 2022, the measures were implemented by 89% and the indicators by 59%. Currently, collecting up-to-date data on the progress of the Strategy’s tasks in the area of administrative services is difficult due to martial law. In addition, the Strategy’s implementation indicators were set before the full-scale invasion, so their full implementation under martial law may not be possible.

State of play and progress of the reform: Development of the ASC network

The Law No. 943-IX, adopted in 2020, determined the gradual establishment of ASCs in all communities: by 2022 in communities that were district centres as of 1 January 2020, by 2023 in communities with a population of more than 10,000 residents, by January 2024 in communities with a population of up to 10,000 residents (provided state funding is available). As of the end of 2022, the ASC network included 3,142 units: the ASC coverage indicators showed 100% of district centres, 75% of communities with a population of more than 10,000, and 56% of communities with a population of less than 10,000, which exceeded the indicators of compliance of the ASC network with the administrative-territorial structure for 2022 planned by the Strategy (60%, 37%, 15%, respectively). However, the full-scale invasion impacted the pace of ASC network expansion, particularly due to the cancellation of the state subvention, temporary occupation of some communities, and damage and destruction of ASCs. Nevertheless, as of the end of the second quarter of 2024, the total number of ASCs in the network reached 4,585, with remote workplaces (67%) and ASCs (29%) accounting for the largest share. 

One of the indicators of the progress of public administration reform is the level of citizens’ satisfaction with the quality of administrative services. As of the end of November 2024, the level of satisfaction with the quality of services provided by ASCs is 94.7%, which exceeds the target set by the Strategy (78% as of 2024). 

Accessibility and convenience in the field of administrative services are among the principles defined in the Law of Ukraine ‘On Administrative Services’. The results of the all-Ukrainian survey conducted by Kantar Ukraine in December 2023 show an improvement in the convenience of ASCs (58% in 2023 compared to 44% in 2021), as well as the convenience and speed of service delivery (47% and 45% in 2023 compared to 36% and 33% in 2021, respectively). 

However, there is an issue with the low level of physical barrier-free accessibility of ASCs. As of the second quarter of 2024, only 59% of ASCs have barrier-free access to their premises, 58% are equipped with ramps, 56% have stairs with handrails, and 27% have sanitary facilities. Additionally, the monitoring of the status and needs of de-occupied and affected communities conducted by PROSTO project experts in July 2023 indicates a significant deterioration in the level of inclusiveness of ASCs in these communities. This is due to the damage and destruction of administrative buildings, which forces the provision of services in temporary premises that often do not meet the requirements of inclusiveness. 

One of the tools that can bring services closer to recipients in the de-occupied territories is mobile services. As of the second quarter of 2024, the number of mobile ASCs was 37, which is about 1% of the total ASC network. However, monitoring of the work of mobile ASCs during the war revealed low efficiency due to the insufficient frequency of visits (1–2 times a month) and the limited number of services provided (less than 10 per visit). 

The functioning and development of the ASC network directly depend on financial support. Approximately 90% of administrative services in ASCs are provided free of charge to recipients, while income from paid services covers only up to 30% of the actual costs of their provision. In other words, the current model of financing the administrative services sector is structured in such a way that the costs of maintaining ASCs and providing administrative services are covered mainly by local budgets, which are especially limited under martial law. To address this issue, the Public Administration Reform Strategy has recognised the need to regulate the administrative fee at the legislative level, update the methodology for calculating the amount of the administrative fee, and align the legislation with the Law of Ukraine ‘On Administrative Services’.

At the same time, the registered Draft Law No. 4380 (‘On Administrative Fee’) has been under consideration in the Verkhovna Rada since 2022. Experts note that the possible obstacles to its adoption are the resistance of central authorities providing administrative services and producers of forms. In March 2023, the regulation of fees for administrative services was identified as a priority for the Ministry of Digital Transformation for 2023–2025 as part of the Government’s State Anti-Corruption Programme. 

On 1 January 2024, Resolution No. 1386 came into effect, which provides for an increase in fees for certain administrative services. As a result of these changes, local budgets may receive an additional UAH 1 billion in revenue from the provision of administrative services in 2024.

Ensuring further integration of services into ASCs and decentralisation of powers

The Law of Ukraine ‘On Administrative Services’ stipulates that the list of administrative services to be provided by ASCs is approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. As of September 2024, this list includes 450 administrative services, with the number of mandatory services depending on the community type, its location and technical capabilities. On average in Ukraine, ASCs currently provide 200–400 administrative services. However, the results of selective monitoring of ASCs in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro and Kharkiv showed that not all ASCs provide a full range of mandatory services. Monitoring data on the implementation of the Strategy’s measures for 2022 showed that the target indicators of the level of integration were achieved in all defined areas of administrative services, except for services in the field of taxation (2% compared to the target value of 5%), registration (re-registration) of vehicles and issuance (exchange) of driver’s licences (9% compared to the target value of 10%). At the same time, there is currently no up-to-date data on the level of integration of services in ASCs, which may be related to the inability to obtain them due to martial law.

Overall, there are difficulties with the integration of such services:

1. State registration of civil status acts (civil registry): despite the relevant powers granted to local authorities by the Verkhovna Rada in 2021, the Ministry of Justice does not allow them to fully provide these services. In August 2023, the Interregional Department of Justice published an Algorithm of Actions for the exercise of delegated powers in the field of state registration of civil status acts by executive bodies of local self-government registration, partially removing some obstacles to the exercise of delegated powers in the field of civil registry by LSGs.
2. In September 2022, administrative social services (ASS), including the allocation of housing subsidies and certain types of state benefits, were transferred from the Department of Social Protection of the Population (DoSPP) to the Pension Fund of Ukraine (PFU). This caused difficulties due to poor communication, duplication of data in several information systems and PFU’s requirements for additional documents.  
3. As of July 2023, passport services were available in only 23% of ASCs. At the same time, the network of territorial units of the State Migration Service (SMS), which are the main points of access to passport services, is shrinking. The integration of passport services into ASCs is complicated by the high cost of equipment, fees for secure communication, and the refusal of the SMS to transfer equipment after the closure of its territorial units.
4. Pension services are provided in the territorial offices of the PFU and through remote workplaces of PFU employees in ASCs according to a defined schedule. At the same time, the PFU has not ensured the full transfer of these services to the LSG level.
5. Business and real estate registration is complicated by the insufficient number of state registrars. The reason for this was an almost two-year break in the state attestation. On 12 June 2023, the first attestation was conducted after the break, with only 16 individuals (8% of all participants) successfully passing the test for real estate registrars and 5 individuals (3% of all participants) passing for business registrars.
6. Services for veterans and their families were added to the list of mandatory services to be provided through ASCs in June 2023. As of the end of May 2024, 869 ASCs had implemented the provision of veteran services based on the ‘Single Window’ principle. 

Monitoring and evaluation of the quality of administrative services

One of the objectives of the Strategy is to introduce a unified system for monitoring and evaluating the quality of administrative service provision. The Law of Ukraine ‘On Administrative Services’ stipulates that monitoring of the quality of administrative services includes the collection and analysis of data to improve the quality of their provision and is carried out in accordance with the approved Procedure (CMU Resolution No. 864). The monitoring and evaluation of the quality of public (electronic public) services are among the main tasks of the ‘Diia’ portal. The monitoring is conducted on a quarterly basis, with results being published on the National web platform of administrative service centres, which demonstrates that this task of the Strategy has been fulfilled.  

Review and optimisation of administrative service delivery procedures

The increase in the number of electronic public services is one of the indicators of the progress of public administration reform. Issues related to the provision of public services in electronic form are regulated by the Law of Ukraine ‘On Peculiarities of Provision of Public (Electronic Public) Services’, which provides for the approval of an action plan for the transfer of public services to electronic form. The 2023 Action Plan included 30 tasks, of which, according to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, 37% were completed as of the end of 2023, 33% were partially completed, and 23% were not completed. The action plan for 2024 was not approved. 

According to the Strategy, the target value of the indicator for the number of electronic public services for 2024 was set at 200 services (250 services for 2025). The Government’s Priority Action Plan for 2024 in the area of Public Administration and Digitalisation provides for the expansion of access to 210 electronic services through the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services. As of the end of 2023, more than 130 services were available on the portal and in the ‘Diia’ app, more than 30 of which were launched in 2023. 

As of the end of June 2024, the number of users of the ‘Diia’ app reached over 20.5 million, with an average monthly growth of 100,000 users. Data from a 2023 KIIS survey shows that over the three years of observation (since 2020), the usage rate of ‘Diia’ has increased from 13% to 51%, with most respondents considering the experience of using electronic services positive. However, the 2023 Digital Literacy Survey indicates that 40.4% of the Ukrainian population has digital skills below the basic level, limiting their ability to effectively use electronic services. 

One of the indicators of the success of the public administration reform is the share of priority state electronic information resources connected to the Trembita electronic interaction system. According to the report for the second quarter of 2024, 90% of priority state registers were connected to the Trembita production environment, exceeding the target for this indicator (80%). A total of 141 electronic information resources have been connected to the system, with 238 state and local government bodies participating. Plans for 2024 include expanding the system’s performance and launching a subsystem for monitoring access to personal data, which will help increase transparency of information processing and enable citizens to control the use of their personal data.

The public administration reform indicators include the implementation of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Administrative Procedure’, with the target indicators of progress being the share of draft laws submitted to the Parliament that are necessary for the implementation of the law (90% by 2024) and the share of civil servants who have received relevant training (60% by 2024). The Law of Ukraine ‘On Administrative Procedure’ (LAP) came into force in December 2023. The initial list of regulations to be harmonised included 134 documents. In October 2024, the Parliament adopted the Law (4017-IX) amending 196 legal acts. As of the end of 2023, more than 10,000 civil servants, or approximately 6% of their total number, had completed training and acquired the necessary knowledge.

Recommendations

To ensure progress in public administration reform in administrative services delivery, it is necessary to continue work in the following key directions:

Development of the ASC network:

1. revising the requirement to establish ASCs in all communities; an alternative may be to provide access to administrative services through community cooperation;
2. in border and frontline communities, instead of building new ASCs, it is worth focusing on the optimal use of existing infrastructure and expanding the network by creating remote workplaces for administrators;
3. enhancing the inclusivity of ASCs;
4. ensuring compensation for paid administrative services through legislative regulation of administrative fees.

Integration of administrative services into ASCs and decentralisation of powers:

1. classification of administrative services at the state level according to the needs and capacity of communities, identification of a group of ‘basic’ services that are most needed in communities;
2. when expanding the list of mandatory administrative services for ASCs, it is necessary to account for the capabilities of communities and provide them with adequate organisational and resource support.

Monitoring and evaluation of the quality of administrative service delivery: introducing a unified system for monitoring the effectiveness of mobile ASCs, improving the planning of their work to meet the current needs of the population, expanding the list of administrative and other public services that can be provided through mobile ASCs.

Review and optimisation of administrative service delivery procedures:

1. strengthening the capacity of local self-government bodies to implement and deliver services through training and methodological support;
2. further simplification of procedures, introduction of comprehensive administrative services based on the ‘life situation’ model, where individuals require several services at the same time;
3. minimising digital inequality, strengthening the role of ASCs as ‘digital intermediaries’;
4. ensuring that new services introduced in electronic format have an offline alternative (at ASCs).

This publication has been prepared within the framework of the ‘Improvement of Governance in Ukraine: Enhancing Policy Making for Social Progress’ Project with the support of Switzerland. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the NGO ‘Agency for Legislative Initiatives’. The opinion of the authors does not necessarily reflect the views of the donor.