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conditions of need for help with specific, basic needs must be met in
order to be eligible for Assistance Benefit. Examples of these needs
include help with eating, dressing and undressing, personal hygiene,
communicating with others and a range of other activities potentially
requiring detailed knowledge of the person’s specific functional
impairment.
If a person is entitled to more than, on average, 20 hours
per week of assistance to meet these fundamental needs, the person is
also entitled to, by the Social Insurance Code, other forms of personal
support in their daily life.
Objectives
The Government has commissioned the ISF to provide a basis for,
and assess the causes for, the outcomes of decisions on Assistance
Benefit for the period from 2002 up to and including 2013. This
applies both to new applications for Assistance Benefit and to the
entitlement review of already granted Assistance Benefit every
second year. The commission includes to examine whether there
have been any changes over time and identify the potential causes of
such changes. Finally, the commission is also requested to provide a
follow-up concerning any other municipal support that is offered to
persons who are not eligible for Assistance Benefit, but who have an
extensive need for support in their daily life. The report addresses all
the objectives mentioned above.
Methods
This report is based on an analysis of register data on Assistance
Benefit from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
(Försäkringskassan) and register data on Services and Support to
Functionally Impaired Persons from the National Board of Health and
Welfare (Socialstyrelsen). In order to analyse areas not included in
the register data, 1 053 case files from the Swedish Social Insurance
Agency have been examined.