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Social Assistance Beneficiaries’ Access to Social Services in a Digitalized Social Assistance System

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  2. Society & Social Sciences
  3. Sozialer Fortschritt
  4. Vol. 71, Issue 6–7
  5. pp. 385–404

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Mesiäislehto, M., Kivipelto, M., Ylikännö, M. Social Assistance Beneficiaries’ Access to Social Services in a Digitalized Social Assistance System. Sozialer Fortschritt, 71(6–7), 385-404. https://doi.org/10.3790/sfo.71.6-7.385
Mesiäislehto, Merita; Kivipelto, Minna and Ylikännö, Minna "Social Assistance Beneficiaries’ Access to Social Services in a Digitalized Social Assistance System" Sozialer Fortschritt 71.6–7, 2022, 385-404. https://doi.org/10.3790/sfo.71.6-7.385
Mesiäislehto, Merita/Kivipelto, Minna/Ylikännö, Minna (2022): Social Assistance Beneficiaries’ Access to Social Services in a Digitalized Social Assistance System, in: Sozialer Fortschritt, vol. 71, iss. 6–7, 385-404, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/sfo.71.6-7.385
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Social Assistance Beneficiaries’ Access to Social Services in a Digitalized Social Assistance System

Mesiäislehto, Merita | Kivipelto, Minna | Ylikännö, Minna

Sozialer Fortschritt, Vol. 71 (2022), Iss. 6–7 : pp. 385–404

1 Citations (CrossRef)

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Article Details

Publisher Name
Duncker & Humblot
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3790/sfo.71.6-7.385
Language
German
Pages
20
Keywords

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Author Details

Mesiäislehto, Dr. Merita, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Mannerheimintie 166, 00271 Helsinki, Finland.

Kivipelto, Dr. Minna, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Mannerheimintie 166, 00271 Helsinki, Finland.

Ylikännö, Dr. Minna, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Aleksanterinkatu 4 – 10, 00170 Helsinki, Finland.

Cited By

  1. Do Red-Flagged Clients Exit Social Assistance Earlier than Others? The Case of the Finnish Social Assistance System

    Mesiäislehto, Merita

    Moisio, Pasi

    Ilmakunnas, Ilari

    (2022) P.1

    https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746422000380 [Citations: 2]

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Abstract

Access to social work has become a matter of even higher significance as remote services and the digitalization of public services has increased extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using statistical data on notifications on need for social services in the Finnish social assistance system in 2017 – 2019 and survey data on social work professionals from 2021, we assess how well a “red flag” system identifies social assistance clients in need of municipal social work and how ­social clients access social services in a system where cash and care are separated.

Our findings show that the red flag system primarily identified need for social work in case of financial problems while social and health problems were less often recognized. Thus, the system emphasizes clients’ own knowledge and skills to receive the necessary services. According to our results, social workers are critical about benefit handlers’ ability to recognize need for social work counselling and one fourth of them do no trust that clients in need of support are guided to social work. We argue that the digitalization has affected not only the way clients apply for benefits, but it has also created pressure for new kinds of social work such as outreaching social work, and direct contact with clients who are in danger of falling out of services.

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Martin Brussig /Ida Bring Løberg Editorial: IT, Big Data und Algorithmen in sozialen Dienstleistungsorganisationen: Möglichkeiten und Restriktionen für Fachkräfte im Klientenkontakt 1
Abstract 1
Zusammenfassung: Zugang von Sozialhilfeempfänger:innen zu Sozialdienstleistungenin einem digitalisierten Sozialhilfesystem 1
1. Introduction 2
Digitalization and Service User’s Access to Services 4
2. Social Assistance Clients in Finlandand Their Access to Social Work 5
2.1 Main Features of the Finnish Social Assistance Systemand Characteristics of the Clients 5
2.2 Red Flag – Notification System and Access to Social Work 7
3. Data and Methods 9
4. Results 1
4.1 Identifying Need for Social Services at Kela 1
4.2 Social Workers’ Experiences on Clients’ Access to Social Services 1
5. Conclusions 1
References 1

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