Quality Report (OSF): Processing times for social assistance applications
General description
Description of the statistics
The statistics on processing times for social assistance applications contain information on the number of social assistance applications and their processing times. From 2023 onwards, the statistical population covers all wellbeing services counties in Finland and the City of Helsinki. In 2014–2022, the population consisted of all munic-ipalities in mainland Finland. The data collection does not cover Åland.
THL publishes the statistics twice a year, in June and December. The statistics have been produced since 2014, and the published data always concern processing times in the preceding April or October.
Relevance
The purpose of the statistics is to monitor the fulfilment of the statutory processing times for social assistance. THL has a statutory duty to collect the data for the statistics and to forward data con-cerning the wellbeing services counties to the National Supervisory Authority for its national steering and supervision duties.
Data content of the statistics
The statistics cover data on the number of social assistance applica-tions and the fulfilment of statutory processing times by wellbeing services county and Regional State Administrative Agency area. The statistical population consists of the wellbeing services counties in mainland Finland and the City of Helsinki. Åland is not included in the data. The statistics present numbers and percentages concern-ing social assistance applications, processing times and requests for further information.
The key concepts of statistics are described in the Concepts and definitions section of the statistical report.
Statistical process
Data sources
Data on the processing times of applications for basic social assis-tance are obtained from Kela as aggregate-level data. Processing times for supplementary and preventive social assistance are obtained from the wellbeing services counties. Data on supplementary and preventive social assistance were obtained from municipalities in 2014–2022 and from wellbeing services counties from 2023 onwards. The data are collected as aggregate data by wellbeing services county and do not include client identifiers.
The population ratios for the processing times of social assistance applications have been calculated using data from Statistics Finland.
Data collection method
The wellbeing services counties and Kela extract the data from their client information systems and submit them to THL at aggregate level through an electronic form service. Responses must be returned by the end of the month following the monitoring month.
The data for the statistics are submitted twice a year for the monitoring periods 1 April–30 April and 1 October–31 October. Data collection on applications concerning the monitoring period ends with social assistance decisions or requests for further information. The information request concerns applications pertaining to the monitoring month. It does not concern, for example, applications received or decided during the monitoring month that concern months other than April or October.
Data validation
THL ensures data quality by comparing the numbers of applications and decisions with each other and by comparing these totals with the numbers from previous data collections. After the deadline for data collection has passed, missing data are requested from the data providers.
Information management
The number of social assistance applications pertaining to the monitoring month is generally higher than the number of decisions made during that month. This is because social assistance can be granted by one decision for several months ahead, meaning that some of the assistance pertaining to the monitoring month has already been decided in previous months.
The monitoring data on processing times for applications for sup-plementary and preventive social assistance in wellbeing services counties are formed from applications in which assistance pertaining to the monitoring period has been processed and which have been decided no later than the day preceding the extraction date. These decisions may also include assistance periods for other months. The time at which the data are submitted to THL varies by wellbeing services county from the middle to the end of the month following the monitoring month.
Kela’s monitoring data on processing times are formed from decisions in which assistance pertaining to the monitoring period has been processed. These decisions may also include assistance periods for other months. The statistics are formed from decisions made no later than the day preceding the extraction date. The ex-traction date is towards the end of the month following the statistical month.
Revision of data
Data for previous monitoring points are updated retroactively in connection with the next statistical release when necessary.
Assessment of the quality of the statistics
Accuracy and reliability
The accuracy of the data depends on the quality of the data submitted by Kela and the wellbeing services counties. Kela submits data from its information systems in accordance with THL’s specifica-tions. The accuracy of the data submitted by the wellbeing services counties is affected by the functioning of the data extraction pro-grams in their client information systems.
In some wellbeing services counties, the number of applications is higher than the number of decisions made. Some applications are awaiting further information and have therefore not yet been decided. Differences between the numbers of received applications and decisions have been examined with municipalities in connection with earlier statistical reports. For example, a small number of applica-tions may have been omitted from the decision, which can happen if matters concerning two different applications have been processed in the same decision.
It is known that some wellbeing services counties extract the num-ber of urgent applications from their client information systems based on decisions made within 0–1 working days. This information does not fully correspond to the number of applications assessed as urgent, because a decision may have been made within
0–1 working days without the application having been assessed as urgent. Most wellbeing services counties obtain data on applications as-sessed as urgent from their client information systems.
Wellbeing services counties obtain data on social assistance processing times directly from their client information systems. However, there may have been challenges in data extraction. For example, there is uncertainty about the date of initiation for a small proportion of applications, which affects the calculation of the deadline.
If an application is sent to the client for further information, the request for further information must be recorded in the information system. In a very small proportion of the processing time data of wellbeing services counties, decisions have been recorded as ex-ceeding the statutory processing times although the processing times were not actually exceeded; instead, the further information entry was omitted. For this reason, the number of decisions on pre-ventive and supplementary social assistance in which processing times appear to have been exceeded is higher than it is in practice.
For applications for basic social assistance submitted to Kela, decisions pertaining to the monitoring month have been counted, and the same household may have several such decisions during the monitoring month. Kela records adjustment decisions concerning applications for the same household as separate applications in its statistics, which partly explains the large number of social assis-tance applications at Kela.
Timeliness and punctuality
The statistical report on processing times for social assistance ap-plications is compiled from data on social assistance processing times in April and October. The report is published twice a year, approximately two to three weeks after the end of data collection.
Consistency and comparability
A specification was made for the monitoring of processing times in April 2016: the processing time ends with the decision made based on the application or the response to a request for further information concerning the application. The processing time for applica-tions containing a request for further information is included only once.
From April 2017 onwards, data collection has been divided into two parts: municipality-specific monitoring data on processing times for applications for basic social assistance are obtained from Kela, while monitoring data on processing times for supplementary and preven-tive social assistance were obtained from municipalities in mainland Finland and, from 2023 onwards, from wellbeing services counties. The data form separate monitoring data on processing times for Kela and the wellbeing services counties. The processing time data for April 2017 is not fully comparable with previous years.
THL’s statistics on processing times differ from Kela’s reporting on the fulfilment of the processing time guarantee for basic social as-sistance. Kela reports decisions on basic social assistance made during each month on its website. THL’s report covers both Kela’s basic social assistance and the processing times of applications for supplementary and preventive social assistance in wellbeing services counties during two monitoring months, April and October.
Previously, urgent decisions at Kela were recorded in the statistics based on an entry made by a benefit officer. At the beginning of 2020, the recording method changed so that applications for basic social assistance taken from the urgent applications work queue are recorded as urgent decisions. The change in statistical recording increased the number of urgent decisions, which means that the numbers in the processing time data for urgent applications before April 2020 are not comparable with the numbers recorded after April 2020.
From April 2020 onwards, Kela’s data on the number of urgent ap-plications is comparable. Kela’s data on the number of urgent appli-cations between April 2017 and October 2018 are comparable.
From April 2023 onwards, data collection concerns applications for supplementary and preventive social assistance submitted to well-being services counties. The data in the statistics on Kela’s basic social assistance and the wellbeing services counties’ supplementary and preventive social assistance are reported at wellbeing ser-vices county level. In Sotkanet indicators 3950, 3951, 3948 and 3949 and in the statistical cube, municipal-level data from previous years have been recalculated to wellbeing services county level in the time series.
The transfer of the obligation to submit data from municipalities to wellbeing services counties may have affected the comparability and reliability of the data. Wellbeing services counties may have collected data from information systems in a different way than municipali-ties did.
Mandate
The production of the statistics is based on the Act on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (688/2008) and the Statistics Act (280/2004). THL’s statutory duty is to produce statistics on the health and welfare of the population, the factors affecting them, and the use and functioning of health and social services to support de-cision-making, development and research. THL’s statistical production is guided by the instructions, recommendations and regulations of Eurostat and Official Statistics of Finland, as well as by statistical ethical principles.
Under section 27 c of the Social Assistance Act, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) must request, twice each calendar year, from the wellbeing services counties and Kela the data necessary for monitoring compliance with the statutory deadlines. Previously, the data were collected from municipalities, but in 2017 basic social assistance was transferred from municipalities to Kela, and in 2023 the granting of supplementary and preventive social assistance was transferred from municipalities to wellbeing services counties. The data received from Kela and the wellbeing services counties are reported by wellbeing services county as cross-sectional data for two different months, April and October.
Under section 27 d of the Social Assistance Act (1412/1997, 9 De-cember 2022/1023), THL must forward data concerning the wellbe-ing services counties to the National Supervisory Authority for its national steering and supervision duties.
The National Supervisory Authority, formerly Valvira, has monitored compliance with the deadlines set for processing social assistance applications based on data submitted by THL since 2014. Following the transfer to Kela in 2017, supervision of the deadlines for basic social assistance was transferred to Kela’s authorised representatives.
Dissemination and publication of data
The statistical report on processing times for social assistance ap-plications is sent by email to the official email addresses of all well-being services counties and to Kela’s contact people for social as-sistance. The statistical report is available on THL’s website.
The Sotkanet Statistics and Indicator Bank include indicators 3950 and 3951 on applications for basic social assistance submitted to Kela and processed within seven working days, percentage of applications, and indicators 3948 and 3949 on social assistance applications submitted to wellbeing services counties and processed within seven working days, percentage of applications.
The previous indicators 3569 and 3570 on applications for basic so-cial assistance submitted to Kela and processed within seven work-ing days, percentage of applications, and indicators 3526 and 3527 on social assistance applications submitted to municipalities and processed within seven working days, percentage of applications, will remain in use but will no longer be updated. The indicators contain data for 2014–2022.
Database reports on social assistance processing times are also published on THL’s website in connection with the statistical report. The database reports, that is summaries and cubes, enable users to make their own selections and searches in the statistical data.
Statistical confidentiality
As an authority, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has a duty to report aggregated information on health and welfare for the whole country. The data used to produce THL’s statistics is mainly confidential, and personal data may not be disclosed. The protection of the data processed is based on the Act on the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (688/2008), the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the Data Pro-tection Act (1050/2018), as well as other provisions governing the institute’s operations.
THL’s datasets are protected at all stages of processing. Access to data and information systems is restricted to people who have user rights to a specific dataset for clearly defined purposes of use. Others do not have the possibility to read, process, modify or delete data. To ensure the data protection of the complete statistics, writ-ten instructions have been prepared. All members of THL’s staff are bound by confidentiality.
Special issues related to the statistics for 2026
Kela submitted all requested national data on applications for basic social assistance and their processing times. Of the wellbeing services counties, Kainuu, Lapland and Pirkanmaa were unable to submit the data by the deadline. Data for April 2025 for these areas have been used in place of the missing data for April 2026.
In the April 2026 data collection, the wellbeing services counties were asked the following question: “Have you observed any changes in recent months in families with children regarding a) applications for supplementary or preventive social assistance or the amounts applied for, b) the content of applications, or c) service needs? If yes, what kinds of changes?” The question received 16 open-ended responses. The responses will be forwarded to social assistance experts at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, THL, the National Supervisory Authority, Kela and Hyvil Ltd.