Income support is granted to those who are not by themselves or in any other way able toachieve a decent standard of living. Assessment of entitlement to income support is based onan individual evaluation and equal treatment (Kjellbom, 2009). Administrators of economicaid should therefore not judge clients differently depending on, for example, gender. The aimof this study was to commence from a gender perspective in understanding howadministrators of economic aid think of equality and inequality between the sexes whenheterosexual couples apply for income support. Based on this objective we arrived at twomain formulations of questions; how administrators of economic aid deliberate aroundequality and inequality between sexes in connection to applications for financial support, aswell as which variables in organisations sustain or discourage inequalities between genders inaid management. Previous research demonstrates that gender inequalities have been sustainedwithin organisations and that has been the basis for our study. The method used is qualitativeinterviews. The study's result is based on eight interviews with administrators at centres foreconomic aid at two medium-sized municipalities in Sweden. Our theoretical starting positionhas been power relations and gender perspective. Our result demonstrates that theadministrators’ perception of a lack of guidelines regarding the pay-out of income supportcontributes to retaining power relations between genders when heterosexual couples apply forincome support.

Individer behöver mat, vatten och tak över huvudet. Har en individ inte ekonomiska förutsättningar för att uppnå dessa behov kan hen känna skam och skuld. Skyddsnät i samhället ska ge stöd om en själv inte kan tillgodose dessa behov. Socialtjänstlagen (SFS 2001:453) anger att socialtjänsten skall främja individers ekonomiska trygghet. Socialtjänsten vänder individen sig till om hen behöver stöd. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka hur socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd ser på sin maktposition i mötet med klient samt vilka förhållningssätt och strategier det finns för att bemöta individer som kan uppleva skam. Det undersöks genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med socialsekreterare som jobbar med ekonomiskt bistånd. Av studien framgick att arbetet inom ekonomiskt bistånd är flexibelt och att flexibiliteten påverkas av socialsekreterarnas kunskap och kompetens. God samtalsmetodik ansågs som framgångsrikt i mötet med klient. Utbildningar för de som arbetar med ekonomiskt bistånd upplevs vara få. / <p>2018-06-05</p>

Barn som lever i familjer med långvarigt ekonomiskt bistånd anses vara utsatta utifrån många olika perspektiv. Socialsekreterare har en lagförd skyldighet att vid ansökningar som rör barn beakta ett barnperspektiv och ta hänsyn till barnets bästa i syfte till att tillgodose barns behov samt arbeta på ett förebyggande sätt för barn vars familjer är aktuella på ekonomiskt bistånd. Undersökningar visar att socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd brister i sitt arbete med beaktande av barnperspektivet. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd beaktar och tillämpar ett barnperspektiv samt hur de upplever att deras handlingsutrymme har för påverkan i detta beaktande. Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ ansats och genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det empiriska material som framkommit av intervjuerna analyserades genom kvalitativ innehållsanalys indelade i teman och kopplades således till tidigare forskning och teoretiskt perspektiv utifrån teorin om gräsrotsbyråkraten. Resultatet visade att samtliga deltagande socialsekreterare är medvetna om deras skyldighet, men uppfattar att barnperspektivet är otydligt angivet i riktlinjer samt att det därmed finns en osäkerhet kring hur man i det dagliga arbetet ska arbeta utifrån ett barnperspektiv och tillämpa det. Resultatet visade också att socialsekreterare uppfattar att de inte har tillräckliga förutsättningar för att i den konkreta handläggningen kontinuerligt kunna jobba utifrån ett barnperspektiv samt att socialsekreterares individuella värderingar och prioriteringar är avgörande för hur de använder sig av handlingsutrymmet vid ärenden som rör barn. Genom en ökad kunskap samt förbättrade arbetsvillkor om barnperspektivets tillämpning inom specifikt ekonomiskt bistånd kan socialsekreterare föra ett förebyggande arbete för att de utsatta barn som är aktuella på ekonomiskt bistånd inte skall drabbas av sådant som denna utsatthet medför. / Children living in families with long-term financial assistance are considered vulnerable from many different perspectives. Social workers in financial assistance have an obligation by law to consider a child's perspective in the case of applications concerning children and to take into account the child's best interests in order to meet children’s individual needs and work in a preventative manner for children whose families are concerned with financial assistance. Research shows that social workers who work in financial assistance sometimes fail to take the child’s perspective into account. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine how social workers in financial assistance take into account and apply a child perspective and how they feel that their scope of action has an impact on this consideration. The study was conducted by applying a qualitative approach and by using semi-structured interviews. The empirical material that emerged from the interviews was analyzed through qualitative content analysis divided into themes and was linked to previous research and theoretical perspective of street level bureaucracy. The result showed that all participating social welfare officers are aware of their obligation, but perceive that the child perspective is unclearly stated in the guidelines and that there is thus an uncertainty about how to work in the daily work from a child perspective and apply it. The results also showed that the social workers perceived that they do not have sufficient resources for being able to work sustainably from a child's perspective in their everyday practice and that the social workers’ individual values and priorities are crucial for how they use their scope of action in cases involving children. Through increased knowledge and improved working conditions regarding the application of the child's perspective in specific financial assistance, the social workers can attain a level of prevention when it comes to working for vulnerable children whose families are in financial difficulties.

Syftet med studien var att ta reda på vad socialsekreterare inom ekonomiskt bistånd tänkte sig att deras klienter påverkas av utformningen av nuvarande system samt hur de skulle påverkas om de var med i ett försök med basinkomst. Fem intervjuer genomfördes med socialsekreterare på ekonomiskt bistånd i Malmö. De aspekter som särskilt fokuserades var hur systemen påverkade eller skulle påverka klienternas upplevelse av rättigheter, empowerment, livskvalitet, deltagande i samhällslivet, samt upplevelse av stigma. Socialsekreterarna gjorde en åtskillnad mellan den grupp av klienter som skulle gynnas av basinkomst utifrån ovanstående fokusområden och de som inte skulle göra det. De som skulle gynnas var de som hade en drivkraft och var självgående, och vars handlingsfrihet begränsades av systemet. Den gruppen som skulle missgynnas var den som led av psykisk ohälsa eller redan var socialt isolerade, vilket ekonomiskt bistånd lyckades fånga upp inom nuvarande system på grund av den ekonomiska nödvändigheten. / The purpose of the study was to investigate how social workers working with financial aid in Malmö Sweden viewed how the system affected the clients and how basic income as an alternative system would influence them. Five social workers were interviewed with a specific interest in the following areas: Life quality, empowerment, the experience of rights and stigmatization and participation in society. The social workers made a clear division between the people who would benefit from a change of system logic and those who wouldn’t. The “group” that were self-propelled and had a driving force would experience a relief from the system and their life quality and experience of rights would increase, and they could participate in society in more inventive and creative ways. The other “group” needed more help and assistence because of psychological and social factors, and the social workers feared they would become more socially isolated and their specific problems would deepen if the economic necessity didn’t propel them to the authorities where they could establish a contact and get needed help.

The aim of this study is to explore if, and if so, how the implementation of robots in the Swedishadministration of social assistance cash benefits has affected the social workers’ own view on theirprofession. The primary focus of the study is to uncover how digitalisation affects the profession ofsocial workers, what the professionals themselves highlight as important qualities to successfully carryout the work of a social worker, and how to obtain such knowledge. This study is based on fiveinterviews with social workers who work with robots on a daily basis. The theoretical framework ofthe thesis analysis is based on different concepts of professionalism. This study concludes that socialworkers perceive their work with social assistance in terms of two different roles, one with a focus onthe relational work with clients and one with the primary focus on control and administration. Withrobots, the administrative part of the work could lessen, something that would increase face-to-faceencounters. This study indicates that the use of robots has an impact on the organization of the work,and in the future it is possible that we will see a new organizational structure to the social welfareoffices.

In Sweden, individuals who cannot support themselves can apply for financial aid from their municipality. The ultimate responsibility to ensure social rights lie upon the municipalities according to the law. The social services decide on financial support in individual cases and through the aid, one shall be assured of a reasonable living standard. One ́s right to financial support is not uncondi- tional. Primarily, each person themselves are responsible for their own liveli- hood. Financial support can be obtained inter alia for reasonable housing costs. If the social service finds an applicant ́s housing costs reasonable, financial support will be given towards the rental charge. However, some municipalities are denying financial support for rental costs for people living in unauthorized sublet apartments. The law states that subletting a rented apartment without the property owner ́s consent is prohibited. In 2019, unauthorized subletting along with charging an exorbitant rent was criminalized in order to address the ex- panding exploitation of the housing market. For the same reason, some munic- ipalities refuse to provide financial support regarding rental costs for unauthor- ized sublets. This thesis addresses the question of whether such a decision is aligned with the legal obligations which controls and determines the duties of municipalities and social services. Whether or not financial support can be re- fused based on an unauthorized sublet contract is not regulated. However, there are several legislations and standards that municipalities and social ser- vices must abide by in regard to financial support. The author concludes that the decision in question lacks sufficient legal support and violates significant provisions. According to the principle of legality, all measures taken by a mu- nicipality must be supported by the legal system. Neither should municipalities be concerned with official duties such as police matters. Furthermore, the prin- ciple of proportionality requires that the measure, to refuse financial support to unauthorized sublets, must not exceed what is necessary to achieve the pur- pose, to access the criminality. In extension, individuals are at risk of ending up homeless or below the limit of reasonable living standards. The rental housing market is only available to financially secure individuals who can obtain a first- hand rental contract. Sublet apartments are in many cases the only housing option accessible for someone in need of financial support. The author acknowledges the problem with tax money potentially being used to finance illegal activities. However, a municipality does not have the right to establish its own rules in order to fill in the gaps within the legal system, since that particular task belongs to the legislator and the court of law.

The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how professionals in social assistance experience challenges with gender equality work linked to Kalmar County's regional equality goals: Systematic equality work. With hope of contributing knowledge for the continued work for equality between women and men. For this qualitative study, interviews were conducted with five participating social workers and one department manager from two different municipalities within Kalmar county. The results were analyzed based on Genus System Theory and Implementation Theory and previously conducted relevant research results. The results revealed different challenges regarding gender norms that becomes visible in the social assistance. The results also revealed challenges in changing clients own perceptions and the work of drawing attention to violence in close relationships. Participants indicated an over-all similar perception and view of what the purpose and associated results of the Systematic Equality Work would practically present as, which also becomes visible in the workplace. However, there is no actual practical implementation of the regions equality target at this stage. The conclusion of this study is that it´s complicated to work for gender equality because of the challenges revealed in this study. Something that complicates this further is the difficulty to implement gender equality policy, which in turn will make it difficult to break gender norms.

The aim of this study is to examine social workers view on financial aid to female victims of domestic violence, based on the theoretical concept street level-bureaucracy. We want to examine social workers view on financial aid and its possibilities to help domestic violence survivors that have left the abuser, we also want to examine their view on emotional aid. A qualitative method and semistructured interviews with six social workers that work with financial aid and have met female victims of domestic violence at work, was used to answer the problem in this study. We found that the social workers who were interviewed expressed that education about intimate partner violence was important to meet the victims who apply for financial aid in a good way. Additionally, this knowledge can also help the social workers use their room for action in a way that is more helpful to domestic violence survivors and can give them the proper support that they need. How a municipality is organized affects how the work with the survivors of domestic violence is organized, in smaller municipalities the social workers have bigger responsibility for the women's totality and in bigger municipalities the social workers are more specialized, and their responsibilities are only a small part of the contact the women have with the social services. This can mean that domestic violence survivors can get different kinds of help from different municipalities, and sometimes they get different aid from different social workers depending on how the social workers choose to use their room for action. The social workers view on emotional aid is that it is important, especially because a lot of female victims of domestic violence feel shame over the fact that they´re getting abused and because they need financial aid.

Det är kommunerna som har det yttersta ansvaret för att säkerställa att barns rätt till bostad tillgodoses. Uppsatsens syfte är därför att studera vilken hänsyn socialtjänsten och förvaltningsrätten tar till barnperspektivet när barnfamiljer är i otrygga boendesituationer. Studien undersöker 22 rättsfall där föräldrar har överklagat avslag på ansökningar om ekonomiskt bistånd för sin boendesituation inom Uppsala kommun. Den valda analysmetoden är kvalitativ innehållsanalys och vi har utgått från Kjellboms teorier om handlingsnormer inom socialt arbete samt Näsmans begrepp familialisering. Studiens huvudsakliga resultat är att det fästs en större vikt vid föräldrars agerande och ansvar än vid barnets behov när beslut fattas om bistånd i form av boendeinsatser för familjer. Barnets situation problematiseras ofta i ärendena, men blir sällan avgörande för besluten. Vår slutsats är därmed att barnperspektivet är bristande i dessa ärenden och att de beslut som fattas inte går i linje med barnkonventionen och socialtjänstlagens krav på att barnets bästa i första hand ska beaktas vid åtgärder som rör barn. Vi ser också att barns delaktighet och intressen inte framkommit i de rättsfall vi studerat. Dessa resultat går i linje med tidigare forskning som pekar på att det finns ett bristande barnperspektiv inom ekonomiskt bistånd.

I denna uppsats har vi studerat hur livssituationen för personer som erhåller ekonomiskt bistånd påverkas av covid-19. Tidigare forskning visar att ekonomiskt utsatta grupper drabbas hårdare än andra under pandemin till följd av redan existerande social ojämlikhet i samhället. Därför såg vi vikten av att studera en specifikt ekonomiskt utsatt grupp under en pågående samhällskris. Vi har genomfört en kvalitativ intervjustudie med åtta handläggare på ekonomiskt bistånd för att få ta del av deras upplevelser kring biståndsmottagares livssituation. I analysen av det empiriska materialet har vi utgått från teorier om social utestängning, kapitalformer och stigma. Vi fann att biståndsmottagares livssituation påverkas negativt under pandemin på flera sätt. Deras möjligheter till självförsörjning och sociala liv begränsas till följd av nedstängning i samhället. Vi fann även att det tillkommit nya klienter under pandemin till följd av förlorad anställning och inkomst. De nya klienterna upplever sig även vara mer stigmatiserade än långvariga biståndsmottagare på grund av att de tidigare haft en högre levnadsstandard. Våra resultat går i linje med tidigare forskning som visar att ekonomisk utsatthet och psykosocial ohälsa ökar under covid-19. Vi ser att vår studie berört många olika faktorer gällande livssituationen för biståndsmottagare under pandemin. Vår studie är unik då vi lyckats fånga dessa faktorer medan pandemin är pågående. För framtida forskning ser vi möjlighet att fördjupa sig ytterligare kring begränsningar i det sociala livet, psykosocial hälsa och möjligheter till självförsörjning för den här gruppen under en samhällskris.