Comparability

Comparability - geographical

It is not possible directly to compare the statistics internationally, as other countries do not have the corresponding benefits and rules.

Comparability over time

From 2007 a new data source is used which means that the data is not totally comparable with data from previous years and a new way of counting recipients of cash benefits was introduced. The counting unit was changed from families to persons in 1994.

The comparability over time can be divided in to three periods:

• 1983 Quarter 2 - 1993 Quarter 4 - Number of families.

• 1994 Quarter 1 - 2006 Quarter 4 - Number of persons.

• 2007 Quarter 1 - present - Number of persons. New source and counting.

Due to the ongoing amendments to the relevant legislation in the form of new benefits and changes to existing benefits it can be difficult to make comparisons inside each of these three time periods. The following is a review of changes concerning the statistics over the past years. The changes mentioned do not reflect a complete review of changes over the years.

Unemployment benefits reform (July 2010): Three different temporary benefits has been introduced as a consequence of a shorter benefit period from 4 to 2 years. The benefits are targeted at persons who no longer are entitled to unemployment benefits. The benefits are Special educational allowance (January 2013), Labour market allowance (January 2014) and Cash benefits allowance (October 2015). Special educational allowance and Cash benefits allowance are administered by the municipalities, while Labour market allowance is administered by the unemployment insurance funds.

Cash benefits reform (January 2014): Educational allowance were introduced in 2014 aiming persons under 30 years. The jobcentre has to make an assessment to put the unemployed person into one of four categories on the basis of the person’s ability to work. These categories were changed as a consequence of the reform. In the statistics the changes has been implemented back to 2007.

New reimbursement model (January 2016): The model for the state financed reimbursement to municipalities has been changed with effect January 2016 onwards. The reimbursement is now time-based rather than being based on the type of benefits and activation. The authorized account plan made by the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior has therefore been changed. This statistics is made on the basis that the municipalities follow the authorized account plan and therefore the changes affects this statistics. E.g. it is no longer possible to distinguish between activated and passive recipients of cash benefits. The changes are implemented in the statistics per January 2016 and as far as possible transferred back to 2007. The old matrices based on the old account plan before 2016 remains in archive in the StatBank.

Coherence - cross domain

There are no other monthly statistics on cash benefits. However the quarterly statistics of people receiving public benefits also includes receivers of cash benefits. In the statistics of people receiving public benefits the figures are a volume measure and counts number of full-time recipients and internal overlap between different benefits are removed. Removing of internal overlap means that a person cannot receive different benefits for more than 37 hours each week. In the cash benefit statistics the number of affected persons is counted and overlap is not removed. Therefore, the two statistics are not directly comparable.

Coherence - internal

The total number of persons receiving cash benefits (Social assistance benefits, total) differs from the sum of every single unit. This is due to two matters. Firstly, some recipients may have received different benefits within the same period. Therefore, by combining two or more types of cash benefits there is a risk of double counting. The Social assistance benefits, total is purged of duplicates on a personal level to avoid double counting. Secondly, Special support (a specific type of support) is not shown as a separate type of benefit. This is because that special support is often given in addition to other types of cash benefits. Special support is included in Social assistance benefits, total.