Study title

This wide-ranging survey charted expert opinion on the welfare of Finnish citizens, and on the present state of welfare services. The respondents were managers or management groups of municipal social services offices, municipal health centres (primary health care), employment offices, local offices of the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), and chairs of municipal social services boards. There were separate questionnaires for each organisational sector, with somewhat differing questions for each. The questions common to all organisations studied opinions on the welfare of population in the municipality at the time of the survey and 12 months from the survey as well as views on social security benefit allocation and the people entitled to benefits. The respondents were also asked why they thought some people in Finland were poor. The questions not common to all organisations charted, among others, plans to cut services or benefits, ways to provide and fund advanced specialist social services, availability and effectiveness of various rehabilitation services, possibilities of ensuring service provision to citizens with the existing resources, and human resources. Opinions were probed on, for instance, the so-called social guarantee (a project by the Ministry of Employment and the Economy to improve the employment of young people), municipal and public service reforms, and social security benefits. Background variables included, depending on the respondent's organisational sector, the respondent's area of responsibility, education, work experience in the managing position as well as the major region and type of municipality in which the organisation was located.