Ett liv på försörjningsstöd : En kvalitativ studie om socialsekreterares erfarenheter av och perspektiv på arbetsföra klienters långvariga behov av försörjningsstöd.

Sammanfattning: Abstract The purpose of the study was to gain knowledge about how social workers perceive the underlying factors that may be behind clients’ need of social assistance for longer periods. A qualitative approach has been used and six telephone interviews with social workers from two different municipalities in Stockholm have been performed. The results show that the social workers’ views are that individuals are in need of social assistance because they are unemployed and because they can not speak Swedish, but it also depends on the client's relationship to the social worker and the municipality's employee turnover. The social services can help to prevent clients from being trapped in a long term need of social assistance, for example by clarifying the municipal rules and regulations, by developing and introducing new activities in the municipality and / or by reducing employee turnover and workload. Keywords: social worker, social assistance, unemployment