Register of Social assistance

Register description

Register controller

Name: National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL)
Postal address: PO Box 30
Postcode: FI-00271 Helsinki, Finland
Visiting address: Mannerheimintie 166 A, Helsinki
Telephone: +358 29 524 6000

Person responsible for the register

Name: Hannele Tanhua
Position: Senior Specialist
Address: THL /Information Services /Social assistance,
PO Box 30, FI-00271 Helsinki
Telephone: +358 29 524 7378
E-mail: [email protected]

Name of the register

Register of social assistance

Grounds for maintaining the register

Statutory. Act on the National Institute for Health and Welfare (668/2008).

Purpose of the register

Statistics and research.

Data subjects

The Register of social assistance includes data on social service clients who, due to lack or insufficiency of income or social security benefits, have claimed social assistance. Data are compiled on recipients of primary social assistance, preventive social assistance and rehabilitative work benefit. The register does not include data about state-reimbursed benefits paid out to refugees, returning migrants or asylum applicants.

Data for the Register of social assistance have been collected since 1985.

Data content of the register

1. Municipality returning the data form on social assistance (municipality, municipality code, region, region code)
2. Personal identity number of reference person
3. Personal identity number of spouse
4. First four letters of last name
5. Socio-economic status
6. Family size (man, woman, children under 18)
7. Duration of primary social assistance (months)
8. Gross expenditure on primary social assistance
9. Duration of basic social assistance (months)
10. Gross expenditure on basic social assistance
11. Duration of supplementary benefit of social assistance (months)
12. Gross expenditure on supplementary benefit of social assistance
13. Duration of preventive social assistance (months)
14. Gross expenditure on preventive social assistance
15. Duration of rehabilitative work experience programme (months)
16. Gross expenditure on premium grant for rehabilitative work
17. Gross expenditure on travel allowance for rehabilitative work
18. Person participating in rehabilitative work experience programme (reference person, spouse, child)
19. Calendar month (January, February, etc.) during which social assistance has been received
20. Households as recipients of social assistance in November (municipalities that provide their data in electronic form)
21. All income sources for social assistance recipients in November (municipalities that provide their data in electronic form)
22. Economic activity of social assistance recipients (reference person, spouse) in November (municipalities that provide their data in electronic form)

Regular data sources of the register

Since 2017 Kela grants basic social assistance and the municipalities grant supplementary and preventive social assistance. Before 2017 the municipalities granted all the social assistance.

Regular disclosure of register data

According to the Statistics Act no data with personal identifiers is allowed to be disclosed for any purposes. However, the data can be disclosed by permission for scientific research and statistical reports in the form that personal identification numbers have been altered so that the data subjects cannot be identified.

Right of access to data and right to rectify an error

Data subjects have no right of access to and no right to rectify their data entered into the register, because it is a statutory statistical and research register. It is prohibited to use the personal data stored in it for decision-making concerning the data subjects.

Information on the processing of data

The controller is not liable to inform the data subjects of data processing, because the Register of social assistance is a statutory register.

Principles for securing the data file

Data protection and information security for the Register of social assistance comply with THL's information security policy (THL/957/3.01.00/2011) and any related guidelines.

The materials of the Register of social assistance, both in paper and electronic form, are kept in locked premises. Access to the premises is given only to certain named employees responsible for the Register. The electronic materials are been stored in a relational database which enables a systematic monitoring of how the data is used. Electronic material is protected by usernames and passwords.

Updated: