VN TEAS study: The current financing model of income support has little effect on the activities of the municipalities

According to a study carried out by NHG and MDI, municipalities can influence the need for income support only indirectly, namely, by promoting employment, supporting health and wellbeing and increasing the availability of affordable housing. Municipalities monitor basic income support expenditure more irregularly than before. The granting of basic income support was transferred from the municipalities to Kela in 2017 with the municipalities’ 50 per cent contribution no longer appearing as a separate item of expenditure.

The study ‘Municipal operating models and financial responsibility in preventing and reducing the need for income support’ examined for the first time the effects of the current funding model and responsibility for basic income support on the activities of municipalities and the opportunities for municipalities to influence the use of income support. The second evaluation focused on the effects of the social and health care reform and employment municipal experiments on income support customers and the development of the financing model.

The survey was carried out by NHG and MDI Public Oy as part of the implementation of the Government’s 2020 survey and research plan.