Expenditure on social assistance

Quality description (OSF)

The quality description for the statistics on expenditure on social assistance assesses the quality and reliability of the statistics as well as their suitability for different uses. The quality description complies with the recommendations of the Official Statistics of Finland (OSF).

Relevance of statistical data

The collection of data on social assistance expenditure is based on the Act on the National Institute for Health and Welfare (668/2008) and the Act on the Statistical Service of the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (409/2001).

The statistics on expenditure on social assistance include data on gross expenditure on social assistance as well as estimates of the number of households receiving social assistance by municipality, region and regional state administrative agency. Expenditure is even given per household and by area, i.e. the gross expenditure on social assistance in the region is divided by the number of households in the region that have been granted social assistance. In addition, expenditure is given per capita, i.e. the gross expenditure on social assistance is divided by the population figure on the last day of the statistical year. 

The data for the statistics on expenditure on social assistance are collected as aggregate data by municipality. The municipality-specific data on expenditure are final, while the data on the number of recipient households are only estimates that are confirmed later on the basis of the person based Register of Social Assistance. The official figures on recipient households are published in the annual statistics on social assistance in November/December in the year following the statistical year.

Social assistance is one of the indicators used in the monitoring of poverty and social exclusion trends. The statistics on expenditure on social assistance can be used in the planning and budgeting of municipal and central government activities as well as in the monitoring of how those activities are realised – or for example in studies on poverty.

The concepts and definitions used in the statistics are described in the statistical report text.

Description of methods

The statistics are based on a population consisting of all Finnish municipalities. In December each year, the municipalities receive instructions and other materials for collecting the data. The municipalities submit their answers to the survey on social assistance expenditure by the given deadline. If a municipality fails to respond within due time, it will receive a reminder. The statistics have had a coverage of 100 per cent in recent years.

In 2015, the survey was carried out electronically by e-mails sent to the municipalities' registries.

Correctness and accuracy of data

As of 2006 data on gross expenditure on social assistance have been collected as aggregate data by municipality. The data are correct insofar as they have been reported correctly.

In the expenditure statistics, data on the number of households by both municipality and region contain double entries as a result of social assistance recipients moving from one municipality to another during the year. Double entries account for just below 10 per cent. These double entries have been removed from the annual statistics on social assistance published in November. According to the 2014 annual statistics on social assistance, which is based on data by individual, 8.6 per cent of all recipient households were households that received social assistance in more than one municipality or had different compositions during the year. The annual statistics on social assistance also contain data on the number of persons receiving social assistance as well as on their social background variables.

The estimated imputed share of households that have received social assistance in more than one municipality has been removed from the anticipated, national total number of households in receipt of social assistance, published on the front page of the statistical report. Previous years' data on the number of households receiving social assistance are available in the Sotkanet Statistics and Indicator Bank.

In the database reports and cubes on social assistance expenditure, the gross expenditure in EUR are summed up by region. The aggregate data by municipality are calculated from expenditure rounded to the nearest thousand EUR, which may result in a difference of a couple of thousand EUR, at the most, compared to the gross expenditure data by region.

Percentage changes in the social assistance expenditure and recipient households in single municipalities should be compared to the previous year's data. The correctness of the more extensive changes to the data is, where possible, controlled and all detected errors in the data by municipality are corrected. Some 10 of the municipal data are subject to control. The more extensive changes are usually the result of organisational changes (e.g. the responsibility for social assistance is transferred to or from the joint municipal authority) and associated revisions of recording and operating practices; IT system reforms; changes in municipalities' internal recording practices (e.g. between basic and supplementary social assistance); or changes in the municipality's circumstances (e.g. higher/lower unemployment rate, changes in the housing stock attracting people in receipt of social assistance). In the smaller municipalities, in particular, even significant percentage changes can be explained by their relatively low total expenditure on social assistance or low total number of recipient households.

Timeliness and punctuality of published data

A Statistical report on expenditure on social assistance is published once a year in May. The expenditure data by municipality are final, while the numbers of recipient households are only estimates that are confirmed later on the basis of the national data in the annual statistics on social assistance.

The annual statistics on social assistance are published once a year in November. The annual statistics give information on social assistance recipients and use household as the statistical unit. Since the data on social assistance expenditure increasingly are published as database reports, the more detailed analysis of social assistance expenditure is now published in the annual statistics on social assistance, released six months later than the expenditure statistics.

Accessibility and transparency/clarity of data

All municipalities are notified of the publication of the statistics on expenditure on social assistance by e-mail to the municipality's official e-mail address. The statistical report as well as the database reports and cubes are available for viewing and printing on THL's website. Time series for the statistics on expenditure on social assistance are available by regional classification from the year 1993 onwards in the Sotkanet Statistics and Indicator Bank.

In Sotkanet, data are available according to the current division into regions and municipalities, instead of the division in use in each statistical year. The indicators can be retrieved using keywords such as subsistence, social assistance and cash benefits. The indicator 415 gives gross expenditure (EUR) on social assistance per capita during the calendar year and he indicator 1277 gives the gross expenditure on social assistance during the calendar year.

Comparability of statistical data

The statistics on expenditure on social assistance were first published in 1992 under the title Preliminary statistics on social assistance. Comparable data are available in the Sotkanet Statistics and Indicator Bank as of 1993. Up to 2005, the official gross expenditure data were collected as part of Statistics Finland’s Statistics on municipal finances and activities. As of 2006 data on gross expenditure on social assistance have been collected as aggregate, municipality-specific data by STAKES, and as of 2009 by THL.

Prior to 2006, data on social assistance expenditure were collected not only from the Statistics Finland statistics on finances and activities of municipalities and joint municipal boards, but also as preliminary gross expenditure data on social assistance reported by municipalities to STAKES. Until 2005 the latter data corresponded well with the official data reported by Statistics Finland.

In 2006 primary social assistance was divided into two types of benefit: basic social assistance and supplementary social assistance. This division has not applied to Åland. In mainland Finland, data have been collected on both types of social assistance since 2006. The statistical year 2006 is also the first year for which data are available in the statistical databases introduced in 2014 as basis for the statistics on expenditure on social assistance.

Even the so-called database reporting was introduced in 2014. They key figures, tables and appendix tables in the statistical reports until 2013 were replaced with database material, database reports and cubes as well as with references to the SOTKAnet Statistics and Indicator Bank. At the same time, the descriptive data analysis traditionally included in the statistical report was shortened to include only the most important phenomena of the statistical year. As the new reporting method has become more established, the number of database tables (bookmarked cubes) had been reduced for the 2014 data.

The long-term aim of the new reporting format is to achieve faster and more automated data production. At the same time, the analysis of statistical data in the statistical report will now be more concise than before. This lack of an in-depth analysis in the statistical report on expenditure on social assistance will be compensated by including a corresponding analysis in the annual statistics on social assistance published later in the year.

Clarity and consistency

Statistical report includes official data on gross expenditure on social assistance covering the whole country as well as estimated data on the number of households receiving social assistance. The statistics include, then, data on social assistance expenditure covering the whole country. Since the division into basic social assistance and supplementary social assistance does not apply to Åland, the municipalities in Åland submit data only on the total number of households and the total amount of gross expenditure.

Special issues concerning the 2015 statistics

In 2015, all the municipalities in Finland responded to the data request, and all the municipalities had social assistance recipients.

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