Comparison of the six largest cities’ income support

Income support from the six largest cities since 2005. Social assistance covers both customers (households and persons) and costs. Since the need for social assistance and unemployment are interlinked, the reports also examine the employment situation at the end of each year. The report on social assistance has been created in cooperation with the expert working group on adult social work in the six largest cities. Income support has been included in comparisons since the beginning of Kuusikko work. The operations started between three cities in the Helsinki metropolitan area already in 1994, when the first comparison of the number of customers and costs of social assistance was carried out on the basis of 1993 data. The first five cities’ income support report was compiled from 1995 when Turku and Tampere joined the work. The actual Kuusikko was reached in 2005, when Oulu also participated in the comparisons of income support. The sixth cities are made up of the six most populous cities in Finland. The six cities in the order of the population include Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa, Turku and Oulu. The six working groups compare the social and health services of cities and early childhood education and care services. Data on customer numbers, performances, personnel and costs are mainly compiled from municipalities’ own information systems and financial statements. City experts agree on as uniform definitions as possible for data collection and implement the data collection in practice.