Social assistance

Quality description

The quality description for the statistics 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 social assistance statistics contain information on the number and composition of households receiving social assistance, the duration of assistance and the average amounts paid to recipients. Included are also cross-sectional data on recipient households’ income sources and household members’ (reference person and spouse) economic activities in November based on the classification of Labour Statistics.

Because social assistance is granted to households instead of individual persons, the basic statistical unit is a household. Since the data collected on households include the personal data of the reference person and the spouse as well as data on the number of children, the statistics constitute a personal data file on social assistance recipients (reference person and spouse) where the statistical unit can be either household or person. Data are also collected on the socio-economic status of the reference person.

Data are collected on households in receipt of primary social assistance (as of 2006 basic and supplementary social assistance) and preventive social assistance, as well as (as of 2011) on households in receipt of rehabilitative work benefits paid as social assistance (work benefit and/or travel allowance). The register does not include data about totally state-reimbursed benefits paid out to refugees, returning migrants or asylum applicants although several municipalities grant these benefits in connection with social assistance.

Data on social assistance are collected annually from all Finnish municipalities. The municipalities report data either electronically from their client databases or manually using statistical data forms. Cross-sectional data for November are collected only from those municipalities that report their data electronically from their client database.

In 2014, 296 municipalities provided their data in electronic form. A total of 273 of these municipalities submitted data to THL by separate electronic transfer. Nearly 1 000 households in receipt of social assistance lived in municipalities that submit their data manually and not electronically directly from their client records.

Data for the Register of Social Assistance have been collected since 1985. Revisions and amendments to the data collection have been made in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006. The data collection guidelines were revised in 2013 concerning the benefits related to international protection and immigration in accordance with what is said in the guidelines on the application of the Social Assistance Act by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (Appendix 2).

The report text describes the concepts, definitions and symbols used in the statistics. It provides administrators, planning officers and researchers with information on social assistance recipients. The data collection 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).

Description of methods used in statistical research

The population of the social assistance statistics consists of all households receiving social assistance during the calendar year. In December each year, the municipalities receive instructions and other materials for collecting the data. The municipalities submit the household-specific data to THL at the latest by the end of February the following year. If a municipality fails to respond within due time, it will receive a reminder. Usually, all municipalities submit the required data. However, if a municipality fails to submit any data, it will be mentioned in the statistics.

Correctness and accuracy of data

Correctness of data depends on the quality of the data submitted by the data suppliers. In the municipalities that use software applications for data collection, the functioning of these applications has an impact on the correctness of data. Both municipal and national data are tested for correctness, The basic tests are described in greater detail in connection with the instructions for collecting data, which are available online at the THL website on statistics.  The focus in the dataset is on the correctness of statistical units and the internal coherence of data. The municipalities that report their data electronically have included the basic tests in their own data systems. If necessary, municipalities are contacted in order to ascertain the social assistance data submitted by them.

The social assistance statistics are based on data recorded in the Register of Social Assistance. The register constitutes a national personal data file. Data on the number of recipient households in municipalities contain double entries because the same person or household may have been registered as a client in more than one municipality or because the same person may have been a member of several household during the period under review. Because of this, any double entries found will be stripped from the final statistics.

Double entries have accounted for just below 10 per cent in the long term. In 2014 the proportion of double entries was estimate at 8.6 per cent. This will cause the following changes to be made in the basic data gathered from municipalities: during the year, each household is registered in the data only once, and each individual (reference person and/or spouse) only in one household. The change is made so that each household (or person) and related costs are registered only for the municipality with the greatest number of months when the recipient has been registered as a client receiving assistance during the year. The secondary criterion is the allocation of the amount of assistance in euro paid to the household.

Majority of the data submitted have a high level of coverage and reliability. The data on sources of income and economic activity in November have a slightly lower level of coverage in municipalities where data have not been submitted into the municipality's own data system or where the option 'other source of income' has been selected. A lower level of reliability applies to data on the socio-economic status of households in receipt of social assistance in municipalities where data concerning the social assistance recipient have not been updated in the municipality's data system (out-of-date data) or when the recipient's socio-economic status have been recorded as 'unknown'.

Accessibility and transparency of data

Annual statistics based on the Register of Social Assistance are published at THL's website. The municipalities are notified through their official e-mail address when the statistics have been completed. Some regional data in the statistics on social assistance are also available online, in the Sotkanet Statistics and Indicator Bank. The indicators can be retrieved using keywords such as subsistence, social assistance and cash benefits.

Timeliness and promptness of published data

The annual statistics on social assistance are published once a year in December. The annual statistics concern the year preceding the year of reporting. The data are reported according to the regional divisions in use in the statistical year.

Social assistance data are also published in the Sotkanet Statistics and Indicator Bank where data are reported according to the regional divisions in use in the year following the statistical year for the statistics on social assistance.

Comparability of statistical data

The collection of data to the Register of Social Assistance and the compilation of statistics began in 1969. All data and time series produced after that year are comparable. Between 1969 and 1983, the statistical data were based on the number of households receiving the type of public assistance paid before social assistance. Statistical data on recipients of the earlier type of public assistance largely correspond to the data content of the Register of Social Assistance compiled since 1985. The concepts and definitions used in the statistics have been revised over the years, and new items for data collection have been brought into use in response to legislative changes.

Data introduced into the data collection in 2001 included economic activity of the reference person and spouse in November, sources of income in November, as well as the months when social assistance was received. Data on background factors for social assistance in November was no longer collected, and the classification for socio-economic status was made cruder (single numerical data). The content of the data collected from municipalities that submit their data electronically is slightly more in-depth than the data collected from municipalities that submit their data manually. Data for November are collected only from those municipalities that report their data electronically from their client database.

Data on rehabilitative work experience programmes, including number of months as well as amount of premium grants and travel allowances in euros, were introduced into the data collection in 2002. The currency was changed from Finnish mark to euro.

In 2003, same-sex couples in a registered partnership were paralleled with married couples. Maintenance allowance/maintenance support was added to income sources.

In 2006, changes took place in the procedures for collecting data on gross expenditure on social assistance as primary social assistance was divided into two benefits, the basic social assistance and the supplementary social assistance. This division was not, however, implemented in the Åland Islands. After the revision, the national amount of primary social assistance does not tally with the aggregate data on basic and supplementary social assistance.

The Register of Social Assistance constitutes a personal data file. In the register, individuals and households are recorded only once during the statistical year, and this leads to differences between register data and data reported by municipalities. For the purposes of compiling statistics by municipalities, aggregate data are collected on the number of households in receipt of social assistance as well as on the amount of benefits paid, divided into basic, supplementary, and other social assistance. These data are published in Expenditure on social assistance statistical report. Initially, the expenditure data derived officially from the Statistics Finland's Statistics on finances and activities of municipalities and joint municipal boards, but since then the data have been collected by STAKES (now THL), first reported in the statistics Preliminary statistics on social assistance and later (as of 2009) in the Expenditure on social assistance -statistics. However, this change did not affect the comparability of data, as for example in 2004–2005 there were no significant differences (approx. 1%) between the preliminary statistics by STAKES and the Statistics on municipal finances and activities by Statistics Finland.

Because of double entries, also the expenditure data calculated from THL’s Register of Social Assistance differ slightly from the gross expenditure data in THL’s Expenditure on social assistance -statistics (until 2008, the Preliminary statistics on social assistance), which provide aggregate municipality-specific data. However, the sum of the expenditure reported to the Register of Social Assistance is fairly close (-0.5 - -2%) to the gross expenditure data in the Expenditure on social assistance -statistics, but there are differences in the annual fluctuations of expenditure amounts. For example in the years 2010, 2011 and 2013–2014 the difference was smaller (-0.9%, -0.3% and -0.7%), while in 2012 it was bigger (-1.6%).

Gross expenditure on social assistance accounted for about 1.15 per cent of all social and health security expenditure (all financial benefits or services that ensure a person’s livelihood and social welfare and health care services) in 2013 (the latest released data).

Clarity and consistency

The statistical report provides nationwide information on the number and composition of households receiving social assistance, assistance recipients (persons), the duration of assistance, gross expenditure on social assistance and cross-sectional data household income sources and adult household members' economic activities in November.

Data on the total expenditure on social assistance are presented both at national and regional levels, by using aggregate data from the official Expenditure on social assistance -statistics. Official expenditure data by municipality are also available in the Expenditure on social assistance statistical report. However, when data on social assistance expenditure are presented in relation to benefit types, duration of recipiency, household structures, or characteristics of individuals in receipt of social assistance (age, gender, socio-economic status, etc.), the data derive from THL's Register of Social Assistance.

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