The structural and functional changes in the municipalities occurring in the 2000s caused productivity to become a major objective in decision-making, including in the social field. However, service quality cannot be measured by consulting economic factors; attention also needs to be paid to issues of human efficacy. In evaluating the effectiveness of services, attention should be paid to the views of clients; this is also important for ethical reasons. The aim of social work is to achieve a change for the better in the life of the client. The project sought to learn about how clients of adult social work relate to the future and their experiences regarding how clientship helped them in making a change in their life situations. Data collection took place before the transfer of income support from the municipalities to the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela). Collaboration was done with the SOS II project under the Kaste development programme of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The project has ended.
